The big Yu Ding was a heavy vessel of King Kang in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The inscription has 19 lines and 291 characters. As a warning, the story of assisting the royal family wholeheartedly was unearthed in Li Village, Meixian County, Shaanxi Province in the early years of Qing Daoguang, and it is now preserved in the National Museum of China.
When it comes to "Da Yu Ding", it is necessary to review the early Chinese characters. It should be said that so far, the well-documented characters are naturally the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, but the oracle bone inscriptions have adopted the "Six Books" character-building method to create characters. A large number of words suddenly emerged. Obviously, there should be a long period of germination and evolution of characters before this. But unfortunately, in the long period of more than two thousand years, what our Chinese characters look like is still a mystery.
The Shang Dynasty was the era when oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions coexisted. Due to the difference in writing "crafts" between the two, they have always maintained their own style characteristics and aesthetic connotations. However, from the perspective of calligraphy, neither of them is ink marks, that is to say, neither of them can truly reflect the true original appearance of merchants’ daily writing. It is as rare as the morning star, so people today can only find clues of the ancients' brushwork in the two. In contrast, oracle bone inscriptions are mostly inscribed with a single knife, which is difficult to reflect the original appearance of writing, while bronze inscriptions can show more of the original ink script and reflect the original writing style.
It should be said that the bronze casting technology of the Shang Dynasty was quite exquisite. However, the inscriptions at that time were very short, and there were often only numbers in a vessel. The number of characters in the bronze wares of the late Shang Dynasty is more.
The Western Zhou Dynasty was the most prosperous period for the development of bronze wares. After the Zhou people established their country, they inherited the traditions of the Shang Dynasty in all aspects. On the one hand, they learned and absorbed a lot of Shang culture. The number of bronze wares is considerable, and the inscriptions on one wares are long and masterpieces from the very beginning. For example, "Ling Yi" when Cheng Wang became king has 187 characters.
In terms of calligraphy style, the bronze inscriptions of the early Western Zhou Dynasty mostly inherited the remaining threads of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. However, if subdivided, it can be roughly divided into three categories, one is simple and plain, represented by "Li Gui Ming"; The third is dignified and strange, such as "He Zunming", "Kanghou Guiming", etc. Among these inscriptions, the style is the most prominent, and the one with the highest calligraphy achievement should be the "Da Yu Ding".
Although "Da Yu Ding" belongs to the bronze inscriptions of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, its calligraphy style is rigorous, and its structure and composition are very simple and plain. Dignified, vigorous and majestic, the work presents a majestic momentum and a magnificent pattern, which attracts the attention of the world.
