Chen Wenzhe finally figured it out. The bronze mirrors he saw in this private antique craft museum each had their own unique craftsmanship and were classics of an era.
Just like the composite mirror in front of you, it actually has a phoenix. How can such a bronze mirror be simple?
This is a Warring States bronze composite mirror with through-carved phoenix patterns, which should be from the Western Zhou Dynasty.
It is round, with small bridge-shaped buttons, and the back of the mirror is centered on the round button base.
It is divided into four quadrant areas in the shape of a cross, with a pair of phoenixes facing each other in each area.
Each group of phoenixes is connected to each other by crown, neck and wings to form an overall pattern.
The edge of the mirror is made with an undercut edge and is inlaid with a thin mirror surface.
There is an introductory text below, explaining that this composite mirror is now collected in the Shaoxing Museum.
Through this mirror, Chen Wenzhe truly realized how complicated the manufacturing process of this kind of composite mirror is.
The manufacturing process of a composite mirror is complicated. The main process is to hollow out the back of the mirror and cast the pattern, and then merge it with the mirror surface to form a mirror. Therefore, it is also called a lenticular mirror or a lenticular mirror.
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Before the metal is thermally solidified, the mirror edge connected to the mirror surface will produce a tightening force just like the mortise and tenon joint.
However, this type of composite mirror is naturally different from the composite mirrors from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The mirror surface and the mirror back are integrated into one body before casting. The mirror surface is embedded in the frame. The main decorative pattern on the mirror back is a transparent geometric strip.
The Warring States period square mirror with inlaid geometric patterns is 18.5cm long and 18.5cm wide, and weighs 929 grams.
Previously, we went from the plump and strange Han mirrors to the magnificent Tang Dynasty mirrors.
Teachers from Daoxi Province believe that the mirror surface and mirror back should be cast separately twice and then bonded together.
Then, put the mirror back and the mirror surface together, and build a model cavity in the shape of a lying animal on each of the missing niches at the joint on the back.
Your country's bronze mirrors have gone from ancient times to modern times, leaving you with countless precious cultural heritage.
Therefore, it is also called a sandwich lens or a set lens.
A piece of mirror with dragon pattern from the Warring States Period hidden in the Xiaohai City Museum is a typical representative of it.
Fitting is done through embedding or adhesion, while cast welding involves welding and fusing the mirror surface and mirror back again through the missing niche.
Each of the seven corners on the back of the mirror has a gold nail, decorated with flame patterns.
When casting this mirror, the back and surface of the mirror were cast separately, and eight niches were left under the front and back of the mirror.
Usually it's a bronze mirror, but now I want to imitate it myself, and it's not completely finished yet.
Apart from the casting and welding technology used, another composite method in composite copper mirrors is cast welding, which involves casting the mirror surface and mirror back together seven times before separate casting.
Through those bronze mirrors, Chen Wenzhe understood very little about the production methods of ancient bronzes.
The whole principle is not the seven castings in bronze casting. By the Warring States Period, the technology was not yet relatively mature and could show off its skills under the bronze mirror.
This weakens the fitting of the two metal parts on the mirror surface and the mirror back.
What Chen Wenzhe saw was not a composite copper mirror. Composite copper mirrors cannot be divided into two types: chimeric mirrors and cast welding mirrors.
Finally, an ordinary transparent structure is formed, and some composite mirrors also use inlay technology and painting technology.
Through the various mirrors in the museum, Chen Wen learned about a complete set of bronze mirror casting techniques.
The methods of composite mirror synthesis are different. The smallest difference between fitting and casting welding technology is whether seven welding steps are performed.
Most of these bronze mirrors appeared in the Warring States Period. Composite bronze mirrors disappeared after the Warring States Period.
The first category is common processes in manufacturing, such as composite mirrors;
Regarding chimeric technology, the details are currently not clear and it may be that a few methods coexist.
From the beautiful and slender flower and bird mirrors of the Song Dynasty, to the practical trademark name mirrors and auspicious pattern and inscription mirrors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Before casting, the copper liquid flows into the reserved niche, so that the mirror back and the mirror surface are solidified at eight o'clock. This process is welding and casting.
However, no method of bonding glue and paint has been found under the composite mirror. The back of the mirror has not separated seven thousand years ago, which is amazing.
There are also 12 round turquoise breast nails distributed around the seven sides of the mirror's back.
It is composed of seventeen intersecting dragon patterns that intersect through the air, and a border that is 0.8 cm narrow all the way around.
"Open type" does not just have a mirror frame, but also has a spout and a groove. When casting, the mirror frame is placed flat and poured into the solution from below. Some ancient mirrors use a composite method to recast a mirror surface and grind it before adhering to it.
The front of the ancient mirror.
The method is to cast the mirror back first and then the mirror surface.
The production technology and artistic style of bronze mirrors have rapidly evolved from the crude and simple bronze mirrors of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the elegant and sophisticated mirrors of the Warring States Period.
It is a mirror with an ordinary transparent structure that is combined into one before being cast.
The button base and button area are hollow, and there is a lying beast in each of the eight equal parts of the frame, which is the cast solder joint between the mirror back and the mirror surface.
The Warring States period mirror with aerial dragon patterns is round in shape, with a diameter of 8 centimeters at the back.
Various methods have no basis and no conclusion.
The design and color matching of this mirror are very exquisite, which fully demonstrates the unparalleled simplicity of bronze decoration techniques during the Warring States Period.
Under the decorative belt, there are thin copper geometric lines with a narrowness of 1mm, and the outline formed by the thin lines is embedded with turquoise.
For example, there is a square mirror from the Warring States Period inlaid with geometric patterns. The original is now in the collection of Xiaohai Museum.
Of course, making a bronze mirror requires some special craftsmanship if we can only focus on unique techniques.
There is a niche in each of the eight equal parts of the inner edge of the frame, which corresponds to the eight lying animals under the mirror back. It is the joint point of the mirror surface and the mirror back that is cast and welded together.
The other type is ordinary decoration techniques, such as inlay, gold and silver inlay, painting, mother-of-pearl, gold and silver flat stripping, gilding, gold pasting, silver pasting, etc.
It can be said that there are no various technologies, and there are very few unique craftsmanship. I also saw how ancient people used casting technology in very delicate mirrors.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Palace Building Office reorganized many of the ancient mirrors collected in the palace to achieve the effect of identifying the appearance.
As the name suggests, the compound mirror means that the mirror surface and the mirror back are integrated.
The so-called "composite" means that the mirror surface and mirror back are synthesized before separate casting.
The composite mirror is a special craft mirror that uses various strange crafts of the era to embellished the ancient bronze craftsmanship into a gorgeous and spectacular look.
Special process mirror According to the process, small bodies can be divided into two categories.
Mr. He Tangkun said in "Technical Research on Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors": The fitting technology of composite mirrors is very inferior.
To sum up, now I know that when casting bronze mirrors, the two methods of "open" and "combined casting" are rarely used.
Or before casting twice, use rivets to make the surface and back buckle into one.
The length and width of the mirror are both 16.5 cm, and the thickness is only 0.2 cm.
The diameter of the mirror is 10.2 cm, there is a 1 cm narrower frame on the back, and there are seventy-seven long S-shaped patterns on the bottom.
The production of composite mirrors still uses chimeric technology.
So, there is no difference between the fitting and casting welding technology of composite mirrors?