西汉帝陵

　　铜器是青铜器的简称。在中国考古学上，夏(约前21世纪—约前16世纪)、商(约前16世纪—约前11世纪)、西周(约前11世纪—约前771年)、春秋(约前770年—约前476年)，都属于青铜器时代。人类开始利用的铜是“纯”铜，即天然铜，也叫红铜。青铜器主要是指先秦时期，用铜锡合金制作的器物。所谓铜礼器，就是铜祭器，是西周规定的整套礼制。铜器铭文，也称金文、钟鼎文，指古代青铜器上的文字，以别于后世的小篆。
　　青铜器在不同发展阶段中形成了各个时期的风格特征。据文献记载，远在4000年前的夏代，就已经铸造铜器，商代铸造技术有所提高，器类增多，造型准确，器壁匀薄，器身上饰有粗疏的动物纹、几何纹。商代后期的青铜器，制造水平达到了高峰，造型庄重，纹饰细密，有祭祖、赏赐的铭文。战国时期青铜器向日常生活用具方面发展，而错金银技术提高了。秦汉以来，青铜器仍有所创新，轻便、精巧、实用是其特点。
　　茂陵博物馆收藏的铜器都是汉代工艺的精制品。
　　C Bronze Wares
　　The Bronze Age in China's archaeological history belonged to the Xia(2100-1600 B.C.),the Shang(1600-1100 B.C.),the Western Zhou(1100-771 B.C.)and the Spring and Autumn Period(770-476 B.C.).Copper that people began to use was natural copper,the red copper in other name.Bronze vessels generally referred to vessels made by combination of copper with tin at the pre-Qin Period.Presentation of the so-called bronze sacrificial vessels was the norm of etiquette set by the Western Han Dynasty(206 B.C.-25 A.D.).Inscriptions inscribed on bronze at ancient times referred to characters carved on bronze vessels to differentiate from lesser seal characters of later generations.
　　Bronze vessels developed to possess styles and characteristics of their own at different stages.As was revealed in the recordings,bronze casting came into existence in the Xia dating back 4000 years ago.The technology was improved at the Shang Dynasty.Variety increased of bronze vessels,whose shape was made accurately,with thin and uniform wall and a few decorative curves drawn to resemble beasts and geometric patterns.At the later period of the Shang,manufacturing level reached the acme in production of bronze vessels.They looked dignified,fine-grained decorative patterns as respect to ancestors or inscriptions as reward bestowal.The bronze vessels at the Warring States Period(475-221 B.C.)developed in the realm of daily life,with application of silver and gold inlaid technology.In the Qin(221-206 B.C.)and the Han(206 B.C.-220 A.D.),bronze vessels still made pioneering progress.They became lighter,finer and more practical.
　　The bronze vessels collected by the Maoling Mausoleum Museum are all exquisite works of superb craftsmanship in the Han Dynasty.

茂陵文物鉴赏图志/王志杰著．—西安：三秦出版社，2012.