File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17972009320).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo11amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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BRONZE H I LL - CENSER" 17 IN. HIGHI Fii'st t.\;)i' of Ciiincse censer made. JIan dynasty (tilt torcijiii iiiHiicncc. .\iicc.sT(tr worsliip, always the Icailin;: feature of all I'cli^ioiis Keiief aiiKiii^ the ( liincsc, (lc\cl()))C(; its liiulily clalxt- ratcd (•(■rciiionials (liiriiifi these dy- nasties. The rilnal nf the >aei'i- ficial sei\ ice increased in niinute- iicss of detail and atVeded pnMic and ;)n\ ate life licfoi-e the ( lion oi' last of the Ancient Dynasties, wlien it reached its hi;feat Chinese wall, (nder the cruel law of this emperor anticjuities had to he concealed li'->t they he destroyed. WwX after this the Han jH'riod (2()(i B. ('. to 25 A. D.) proved a very productive time marked by external influences comhiiied with nnic-h nati\-e originality. .\nd still nmch later than the Han period, dnrinu the late Sung period (9(10 to 1 12(i A. D.) there was a great art renaissance, when hronzes hidden in ancient times were diseovered and studied from a critieal ))oint of \iew. It should he recalled that the art of hronze easting had reached perfec- tion at the earliest ))eriod of the .Vueient Dynasties. The Emperor ^'ii (2205 to 2H)S 15. ('.) is said to ha\'e cast the "Nine 'I'rijxtds"' fi-om hronze contributed from the nine ))rovinees, ui)()u which majjs and records of the nine (li\isions of his em))ire were engra\-ed. These tripods passed from dynasty to dynasty as emblems of the imperial power for o\'er two thousand years. The ;)eriod of the manufacture of the bronzes in the Museum extends from the eighteenth century Ix'fore ( hrist to the scNcnteenth century after. The collection therefore allows the unusual pri\ilege of comparing original e.\ami)les of the early Shang and ("hou periods and of the somewhat less early Han ))eriod with those of the later Sung and Ming periods. This comparison j)ro\es the forms similar in the ancient and later work, but shows changes in detail, ornament and utility. Among the oldest pieces

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