From Sacrifice Ware to Daily Use: On the Variation of Bronze Vessel in the Han Dynasty

汉代是中国古代铜器发展史的重要时期,其间青铜容器完成了从礼器到日常用器、从周制转变为汉制的过程。主要体现在:器类方面,传统礼器逐渐消亡,日常用器种类增多;纹饰内容方面,从以神仙世界的灵异纹饰为主逐渐过渡到以人间的吉祥图案为主;铭文的内涵也由物勒工名转变为吉祥语言。从总体上看,西汉早期青铜容器还处在周制阶段,西汉晚期汉制才得到确立,西汉中期为过渡阶段。The Han Dynasty was an important era for the development of bronze vessels,which had completely changed from sacrifice ware to daily utensils and from the Zhou Dynasty style to the Han Dynasty style.The traditional sacrifice ware had been replaced gradually by daily utensils as the designs of secular auspiciousness had replaced the supernatural beings and become the mainstream decoration pattern.For the contents of inscriptions on the ware the auspicious words had replaced crafters' name.Generally speaking,the bronze wares in the early Han Dynasty were still the Zhou style,but as time went by,the Han style was established in the late Han Dynasty