Between Metal and Ink – The Beauty of Bronze Vessels Through Rubbings

Tags: bronzes | rubbing

Chen Chao-Jung, Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica

Full-surface bronze rubbing is a special craft with its origins in the middle 19th century. Through a combination of sketching, painting, rubbing and paper cutting, this technique brings out three dimensional bronze carvings and figurations on flat rubbing paper. The art of full-surface bronze rubbing requires delicate technique and a lot of time. Since the advent of photography, this art has become rare and precious due to the difficulty of passing the skill down. More than two thousand full-surface bronze rubbings are in the collection of the Fu Ssu-Nien Library of the Institute of History and Philology. These elegant and graceful works fully bring out the beauty of bronze vessels.


I. Introduction
During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in Chinese history, bronze vessels were commonly found. Aristocrats often used bronze vessels in daily life, and in religious sacrifices. When they died, large amounts of bronze vessels would accompany them to the grave. In times of emergency, they would also bury bronze vessels in underground hollows in order to wait the crisis out. Because of these actions, these bronze vessels have been preserved, having been hidden underground for generations, allowing us to fully appreciate their beauty.
The first unearthing of bronze vessels recorded was in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu-Di of Han “acquired a ding [a three-legged large bronze vessel] on the FenRiver” (recorded in The Book of Han, “Biography of Emperor Wu-Di”), and took it as a sign of good fortune. Accordingly, he changed his era name from Yuan-Shou to Yuan-Ding (116 BC). Xü-Shen, in the preface of his Explaining and Analyzing Compound Characters (Shuo-wen Jie-zi) also said that “the inscriptions on the ding and yi [a vessel for holding wine], often discovered in mountains and rivers, were ancient languages from previous dynasties.” However, bronze vessels didn't become an object of research during the Han Dynasty.
It was not until the Northern Song Dynasty, when the study of epigraphy flourished, that bronze vessels lost their supernatural connotations, and became subject to detailed research. With involvement of the gentry, and the pronounced love of ancient objects by the emperor (Hui-Zong of Song), the tide swept from the upper to the lower classes. During this time merchants specializing in the dealership of ancient artifacts appeared. These ancient artifacts were freely available in the markets, and the learned gathered together for discussions and critiques, following the trend of their times.
The development of paper making, printing and ink rubbing techniques during the Song Dynasty further enhanced the circulation of bronze vessel inscriptions and figures. Pictorial catalogs of bronze vessels included ten volumes of Pictorial Study of Ancient Artifacts by Lü Da-Lin (1040-1092), five volumes of Continued Pictorial Study of Ancient Artifacts by an unknown author, and thirty volumes of Xuan-He Survey of Ancient Artifacts commissioned by Emperor Hui-Zong of Song. These pictorial catalogs became the basis for later generations of bronze vessel scholars. The written style of later catalogs basically continued the trend set in the Song Dynasty until the Qing Dynasty when the study of bronze vessels blossomed.

 II. What are full-surface rubbings?
The art of ink rubbing has its roots in the Six Dynasties period. It was first used to make rubbings of stone volumes of the Han and Wei Dynasties, and stone carvings of the Qin Dynasty. The art flourished after the Tang Dynasty, and in the early years of the Song Dynasty, the art was applied to make rubbings of writings on ancient artifacts. Ordinary ink rubbings are made on a flat surface. Full-surface rubbing, on the other hand, is a way of producing a three-dimensional image on a flat piece of rubbing paper, and is different from mere flat rubbing.
From the flourishing of epigraphy during the Song Dynasty, until the 20th century before the widespread adoption of photography, the main way of passing down the styles of bronze vessels was by copying with brush and paper. Full-surface rubbing found its roots in the middle of the 19th century as a combination of sketching, painting, rubbing and paper cutting. It was a method of recording three-dimensional bronze vessel styles and carvings on a flat piece of rubbing paper.
Full-surface rubbing can be done in three different ways. The first was done in sections with small pieces of paper, and then pieced together to form a whole figure. Strictly speaking, this was more of a collage than a real three-dimensional rubbing. The second was done with multiple large pieces of paper, layered one at a time, to produce a rubbing with all the carvings and engravings on one single piece of paper. The third was made by carving the engravings onto wood or stone, from which the rubbing was made. In practical usage, different techniques would be used for different parts of the same vessel, with more difficult parts being done in small sections, or engraved onto another medium.
The stages of the development of full-surface rubbing techniques were as follows:
1. Early period (between the Jia-Qing (1796-1820) to Dao-Guang (1821-1850) eras)
 The rubbing of yi style vessels began with Ma Qi-Fong, as documented in Jin-Shi-Xue. According to Ma, it was done on June 18, 1798. Ma's student Liu-Zhou (Shi Da-Shou, 1791-1858) learned the art from his teacher. Ruan Yuan called him “the epigraphy monk”. Liu-Zhou's student Li Jin-Hong was also skilled at full-surface rubbings. Moreover, in Zhang Ting-Ji's Epigraphy Characters of the Qing-Ting House, several full-surface rubbings of bronze jue (a kind of three-legged wine holder) can be found.
During the early days of full-surface rubbing technique, the vessels were usually small, and the engravings simple. Flat rubbing was used for three-dimensional rubbings, and perspective and yin-yang were not issues. It was as if they were made through wood carvings.
2. Developing period (from Dao-Guang 1821-1850 to Xian-Fong 1851-1861 eras)
The epigrapher Chen Jie-Qi (1813-1884) was a crucial figure in the development of full-surface rubbing. A native of WeiCounty, Shan-DongProvince, he passed the imperial examination in the 25th year of the Dao-Guang era (1845), and was admitted into the Han-LinAcademy. However, he abandoned his position soon afterwards and went back to his hometown, and did not serve in any public position afterwards. He amassed a great number of bronze vessels and stone seals, and carried numerous correspondences with other scholars, mainly by way of rubbings. Due to this correspondence, he produced great numbers of rubbings, and constantly refined his rubbing technique. His “Wei-style rubbing” was usually produced by first making a real sized rubbing sketch, and then transposing it onto soaked wood to make an ink rubbing. The whole process required delicacy, lightness and cleanliness. The famed Mao-Gong Ding was once under Chen's possession and his full-surface rubbings of this ding are among the best produced. These rubbings number few today, and are extremely valuable.
3. Maturity period(Tong-Zhi (1862-1874), Guang-Xü (1875-1908), and Republic (1911- ) eras)
After the introduction of western sketch perspectives into China, they were applied to the art of rubbing, and full-surface rubbing acquired a more exact perspective, more detailed contrast, and more natural lighting. Zhou Xi-Ding (1891-1961) is an exemplar of this new style. He made rubbings of the possessions of such famous collectors as Chen Bao-Chen and Luo Zhen-Yü. In Chen Bang-Huai's words, “Look at its front and back, brightness and darkness, to decide the deepness of the ink; look from near and far, and check its measurements so that all may match. Zhou's rubbings produce a three-dimensional picture instead of a flat image; his works were unprecedented.” (In Memoriam Mr. Zhou Xi-Ding, Artifacts 1962, 3). Zhou's leading disciple Fu Da-You (1917-1994), and Fu's son Fu Wan-Li all learned the true essence of Zhou's craft. In addition, Ma Zi-Yun (1903-1986) and his follower Ji Hong-Zhang were also skilled in the art of full-surface rubbing.

III. The orientation of full-surface rubbings and its heritage
From the Song Dynasty, the handing down of bronze vessel figures was mainly done by tracing and copying. Even today with the advancement of photography, tracings of bronze vessels are still commonly used. Rubbings were collected and passed on in books since the popularization of full-surface rubbings from the Jia-Qing and Dao-Guang eras of the Qing Dynasty. With the rise of stone lithography, collotype printing, and photographic printing, these new techniques facilitated the quick and mass printing of exquisite collections, which became the norm in the field of epigraphy. On the other hand, full-surface rubbing, being a time-consuming handicraft with dwindling numbers of professionals learned in skill, have become rare works of art.
When appreciating full-surface rubbings, one must remember that in the long tradition of epigraphy, full-surface rubbing was at one time a way of disseminating the figures of bronze vessels. Full-surface rubbings should also be considered works of art, especially in the publication of two collections, Bronze Inscriptions of Cheng-Qiu Hall (1931), and Bronze Inscriptions of Yi-Lin Hall (1940). These collections show that good full-surface rubbings can hold ground even higher than photos, and the ingenuity of rubbing masters cannot be replaced by newer technologies.
The study of epigraphy and full-surface rubbings of bronze vessels went hand in hand with painting to become a unique artistic form during the end of the Qing Dynasty into the thirties and forties of the 20th century. The genre of “Bo-Gu paintings” (paintings with ancient artifacts as their subject) combined images of antique objects with flowers and plants. The antiques were either traced directly, or set on the painting through full-surface rubbing, and the addition of tasteful flowers and plants brought forth an exuberant ancient feel. Rubbings on paper became a semi-finished art work and entered the productive process of artists. The collaboration of collectors, rubbing masters and painters was required to produce a single piece of artwork.

IV. Full-Surface Rubbings in the collection of the Institute of History and Philology
After the establishment of the Institute of History and Philology in 1928, under the leadership of founding director Fu Ssu-Nien, the Institute worked hard to collect research materials.  Many epigraphy rubbings entered the collection of the Fu Ssu-Nien Library of the Institute. Included in the collection are approximately 2000 full-surface rubbings of bronze vessels, among which are the collections of the famed collectors Wu Shi-Fen, Chen Jie-Qi, Ke Chang-Si, Feng Shu, Sun Zhuang and Luo Zhen-Yu. The producers of the rubbings are also masters, like Zhou Xi-Ding and Wang Xiu-Ren. Esteemed collector Liu Ti-Zhi (style name Shan-Zhai) donated his collection of more than 400 bronze vessel full-surface rubbings to the Institute, making them the core of the Institute's collection. This assembly of bronze and ink will be fully appreciated for many generations to come through the digitization project.
 　　　　　　　　　　  Organization：Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
                                       Project：Digitalization of Treasured Historical Artifacts (Bronze Vessels)
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