Shang Zhou

Scholarly views tend to deny that there was indeed a phoenix in history, but the oracle bone inscriptions and Jin inscriptions show that until the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the phoenix was a rare but not non-existent bird. [17]

In the oracle bone inscription, "wind" leads to "phoenix". Yinxu once unearthed a piece of oracle bone, "Jiayinbu, whistling net, get the wind." Bingchen, won five. The meaning of this oracle bone inscription is: The king of Shang instructed his ministers to use a net to catch birds, and Yu Bingchen caught five phoenixes on this day. "Because it is a network of Pu, it is a phoenix. [18] The inscription of the early Jin Wen Zhongding contains: "...... Return to the king. The word "shengfeng" mentioned in the article, Guo Moruo once concluded that it refers to the living phoenix. [19]

The earliest classic record of the phoenix is the fifth chapter of "Shangshu, Yushu, and Yiji". The book describes that after Dayu controlled the water, a celebration ceremony was held. The music was presided over by Kui Long, and the birds and beasts sang and danced during the ceremony. In the end, the phoenix also came - "Xiao Shao is ninety, and the phoenix emperor is coming". [20]

Shang Yufeng

Shang Yufeng

During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the phoenix was regarded as a sacred bird. Therefore, the depiction of phoenix patterns on jade and bronze objects prominently expresses the ruler's concept of "Mandate of Heaven". At this time, the phoenix patterns are almost all corolla-shaped, plump wings, long tail feathers, and wide and powerful claws, showing a brave and strong attitude. The phoenix character in the oracle bone inscription and the gold inscription also completely shows such a characteristic, and the phoenix pattern at this time is completely mystified and artistically exaggerated.

The main formal characteristics of the phoenix patterns on the bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the specific view of the archaeological community, is that these phoenix patterns are all side images of birds, and they are often arranged in a symmetrical way on the bronzes. The phoenix crown has three kinds of toothed crowns, long crowns and flower crowns, and all birds with hooked beaks can be called phoenixes, and most of the beaks are closed hook-shaped. The eyes of the head are mostly round or oval, and the phoenix body is the shape of a bird or a chicken. The ratio of length to length often varies depending on the part of the decoration. The corolla and phoenix patterns are all made of the volume type, and the head and tail of the phoenix are connected, and they are mainly decorated on the pot and the utensils. The most varied phoenix pattern is the tail feathers, which come in the form of long tails, vertical tails, split tails and symmetrical tails. The longest tail of the long-tailed phoenix can reach three-quarters of the bird's body, and the exaggerated technique is amazing. The tail end of the long tail or phoenix bird pattern is different from the upper volume and the lower volume, and they are mainly popular from the middle of Yinxu to the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The tail feathers of the phoenix are wider and drooping, which is called the hanging tail phoenix pattern, which prevailed in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Due to the change of composition, the tail feathers and the phoenix body are separated, that is, the tail is split. There are also differences between the upper and lower volumes, and most of them prevailed in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. [21]

Most of the phoenix patterns in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were majestic, solemn and steady, showing the hierarchical and conservative atmosphere of the slave society and the aesthetic taste of the time. Not only as a practical totemic marker, but also gradually promoted into a beautiful artistic image.

Pre-Qin

After the Warring States Qin and Han dynasties, the phoenix was completely deified into a supernatural bird, but there are still records of the appearance of the phoenix from time to time. For example, "Zuo Chuan Zhaogong (First Year ~ Thirty-second Year)": "The place where my ancestor Wu Zhi stands, the phoenix bird is suitable, so the name of the bird is in the bird master." ” [22]

Chu Tiger Bird Drum

Chu Tiger Bird Drum

The Warring States period was a period when hundreds of schools of thought contended and the new economy flourished, and the phoenix pattern showed a new style. The phoenix pattern began to become graceful and beautiful, charming and colorful, and the posture was soft.

Collected in the Jingzhou City Museum of Hubei Province, the tiger seat bird drum, two head and tail, limbs bent, back to the crouching tiger as the base, on the back of the tiger each stand a long leg head to lead the singing phoenix, back to the middle of the phoenix, a big drum with a red rope belt suspended on the phoenix crown. The whole body is painted with black lacquer, and the tabby pattern and phoenix feathers are painted in red, yellow, gold, blue and other colors. The shape of the whole instrument is realistic, the painting is brilliant, it is not only drum music, but also a masterpiece of art. It is worth pointing out that in this combination of phoenix and tiger, the phoenix is tall and lofty, proud of the sky, but the tiger is short and crouched on the ground, reflecting the Chu people's consciousness of worshipping the phoenix, yearning for tranquility and the spirit of conquering fierce beasts and not fearing violence. [23]

Qin Dynasty

During the Qin Dynasty, the phoenix pattern temperament is strong and strong, with a strong breath of life, and its image is either arrogant and struggling, or magnificent, or chest and wings, showing a flowing, robust, and vigorous vitality. From the past, the abstract lines have gradually developed into concrete portrayals of images, so they tend to be more and more realistic, and from the more mysterious forms in the past, they have added a lot of life interest and decoration. Thus, in terms of artistic value, it has reached a new peak. [24]

Qin painted phoenix pattern lacquer bowl

Qin painted phoenix pattern lacquer bowl

In 1975, the No. 11 tomb of Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger unearthed the Qin Dynasty painted phoenix pattern lacquer bowl, the inner bottom is painted with two fish swimming freely and a one-legged phoenix bird, the pattern is like unrestrained, full of dynamics, the picture uses the three-legged composition method, through the "business position" of different animal patterns, so that the picture force field in the viewer's psychological balance.

Compared with the Tiger Bird Drum in the Warring States Period, the phoenix pattern of the painted phoenix pattern lacquer bowl is more decorative, and the phoenix no longer has an overwhelming contrast advantage like the phoenix and tiger comparison in the Warring States Period, and its volume is similar to that of the two swimming fish, but the head of the phoenix is located in the center of the lacquer bowl, and the exaggerated crown crosses the inner sole, showing that it is in an absolute center of gravity position between movement and static.

Han dynasty

According to the Book of Han, during the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, "Fenghuang Shenjue Collection" [25] , the body of the bird was "five or six feet high". "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Volume 1, Emperor Guangwu Ji I" contains: "In the seventeenth year of Jianwu, there were five phoenix emperors in Shaanxi County, Yingchuan" [26] . Quoted in "Dongguan Hanji", it says: "The phoenix is eight feet high." And according to "Jingfang Yi Biography": "Fenghuang Gaozhang Er. "The phoenix body characteristics depicted by the Han Dynasty people have one thing in common, that is, the size of the phoenix is extremely large - from five or six feet tall to more than one zhang.

In the Han Dynasty, there were two theories about the "four spirits": one was the lin, the phoenix, the turtle, and the dragon, and the other was the four spirits of the sky: the green dragon, the white tiger, the vermilion bird, and the xuanwu. [27]

and "Collected Memories" recorded: "Yao reigned for seventy years...... There is a country of branches, and the bird of the heavy light is offered,...... It is like a chicken, and it is like a phoenix, and it can chase away fierce beasts, tigers and wolves, so that the demons and disasters cannot be harmed...... It didn't come