Appraisal: Volume on Bronze Ware

Author: Yanjun Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This volume of "Treasure Identification" focuses on bronze artifacts, with all recorded items sourced from private collections. It includes a wide range of pieces, from Shang and Zhou dynasty ritual vessels to small items from the Ming and Qing dynasties, reflecting the state of bronze collection in the. Bronze has been a traditional material in Chinese culture, and this book organizes the development of bronze artifacts into six major categories: Bronze Artifacts of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties; Bronze Artifacts of the Qin and Han Dynasties; Bronze Artifacts of the Tang and Song Dynasties; Bronze Artifacts of the Liao and Jin Dynasties; Bronze Artifacts of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties; and Bronze Artifacts of the Qing Dynasty and Modern Era. In addition to describing the characteristics of each artifact, the book also provides corresponding artistic evaluations. It was the first in China to adopt a ten-level system to distinguish the levels and rarity of artifacts. Since the national three-level system could no longer adequately refine the rarity of cultural relics, this ten-level system offers collectors a relatively reasonable judgment scale for assessing value levels and rarity. The ten-level system evaluates artifacts based on factors such as their remaining quantity, artistic level, technological components, age, intrinsic historical value, and market value, and categorizes them into ten levels according to their rarity.