古滇人社会文化景观:滇青铜图像的艺术人类学解读

The Social Cultural Landscape of the Ancient Dian People:An Interpretation of the Images on Bronze Wares of the Dian Kingdom from the Perspective of the Anthropology of Art

战国时期,滇青铜文化于云南滇池水域滥觞,原始艺术的创作者在青铜冰冷坚硬的材质上,传递出了一个古代民族社群的生命意识,在没有文字的古代滇国,数量巨大的青铜器物像成为对其社会文化景观的一种民族志式的深描。本文从艺术人类学的角度,通过社会心理学及精神分析的方法来阐释滇青铜图像艺术以及创造这些特殊象征符号的社会行为,以艺术的形式来诠释古代滇国社会文化景观。

During the Warring States Period, the bronze culture of the ancient Dian Kingdom originated in the area of Dianchi, Yunnan. In the 1950s, the archaeological excavation of the Shizhai Mountain site in Jinning initiated the study of the bronze culture of Dian, which unveiled the existence of a Bronze civilization created by ethnic tribes living in the southwestern frontier of China during the Warring States to Eastern Han Dynasty. In recent years, interdisciplinary research has become an important perspective for cultural studies. The mutual exchange of theoretical methods from different categories has brought a new research perspective to our traditional understanding. Compared with cultural phenomena in other cultural systems, art has its own intrinsic characteristics and unique values that cannot be replaced. Since the evolution of prehistoric art, art has always been directly related to understanding specific social conditions, life s experiences, life s emotions and survival. This paper tries to take a new look at the social and cultural landscape of the ancient Dian Kingdom from the perspective of the anthropology of art, and, through psychology and psychoanalysis, uses the images found on the bronze wares as a medium to explain the wares artistic symbols and the culture s social activities. It explores how the two artistic forces of the Dionysian spirit and Apollonian spirit influence the creation of Dian s bronze art, and how primitive art interacts with human society. From the social process of art construction and artistic creation, the paper explores in depth the unique aesthetic images of ancient Dian culture. In his book The Beginnings of Art , German art historian Ernst Grosse once put forward the theory that art originates from the place where its culture begins. As a regional indigenous culture, the early Dian culture preserved more of the aesthetic color of the ancient ethnic groups in Yunnan. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, Dian society illustrated the characteristics of the chiefdom stage of socio-political development with its accompanying authoritarianism. The ancient Dian people had their own system of primitive religions and witchcraft traditions, which derived largely from their response to the forces of nature. Their superstitious activities mainly include praying for and pleasing the gods in order to advance their personal destiny and tribal welfare. This might be considered the social psychological roots of Dian bronze art. The creators of the ancient art maintained specific social relationships, and their creative activities were not only a personal behavior, but were also closely related to the ideology of the society in which they lived, as well as were related to the social groups on which they depended. Their works of art are not isolated cases, but products that were recognized by the mainstream culture of their society, and conformed to the intentions of the ruling class. These works of art, as a material existence, played an active role within a specific social structure. With the exchange and use of these items within the network of social relations, more symbolic meanings were added. The unique bronze receptacles of Dian are important bronze wares. They were normally used by primitive artists to express group events through the engraved patterns and sculpted decorations. The wares show a very obvious political orientation about the time when the scene was shaped. The original art not only records an important event in the society of Dian, but also conveys the value of the orientation of Dian society in an easy-to-understand way. On the one hand, the material form of the object itself gives the observer a sense of touch, which leads to interactive reflection;on the other hand, the art also plays a role of a “psychological weapon” as a “magic technology”. By viewing the three-dimensional sculptures, the individual becomes the recipient of the logical social structure. This kind of artistic expression is the manifestation and confirmation of the social status occupied by and resources used by the rulers and that which defended their rights, showing the tendency of social wealth. Meanwhile, the bronze wares also embody social stratification at that time. The social structure was firmly formed, and moral prohibition played an increasingly important role in interpersonal communication at different levels. The tribal art became the medium of communication for social thought. In the bronze art of Dian culture, we can find the expression of both the Dionysus spirit and the Apollonian spirit. Let us take, for example, the bronze table with the tiger and ox motif, which is a representative bronze ware of the ancient Dian Kingdom. After experiencing the bloody scenes of the ancient Dian people s killings and melees, those states of craziness and destruction are in stark contrast to the quiet and calm seen in this piece. The dramatic expression of their society moves from that of the Dionysian spirit to the praise of the Apollonian spirit. Judging from those images on the bronze wares which record the society and culture of the Dian Kingdom, it can be seen that the rationality of the ruling tribe at that time gradually increased;that society developed in the direction of “civilization”, and the driving force of the psychological phenomenon of complex production relations accumulatively brought about the process of civilization. An artistic, stylized and ideologicalized bronze culture had emerged. The bronze culture of the Dian Kingdom came from the refinement of life, which formed a national aesthetic consciousness. In turn, aesthetic emotions, as an important way of thinking of a nation, had a profound impact on the formation of social life and the cultural psychology of the nation. In almost all societies, art has its semantic function. It is art that combines the materiality of an object with the connotations and extensions that depend on it, thereby conveying a unique understanding of the surrounding world by the people who created it. From the dramatic, complex and ideological nature of the imagery of the bronze art, it can be clearly seen that the creators of and those who appreciate this primitive art had not only a simple aesthetic way of thinking on daily life, but they had carefully observed people, feelings and things from the different aspects within the hierarchical society, and had a deep understanding of the “relationship” between people-people and people-nature. In the process of artistic creation, the primitive ethnic groups infused realistic, humanized thought, which added to the cultural value of the Dian culture s bronze art. The art experienced a qualitative leap away from traditional primitive art which used single element patterns and repeated compositions. If we reflect on the social phenomenon and life events of Dian Kingdom, the images on the bronze wares present a pluralistic, three-dimensional artistic expression with social dynamic semantics, which convey not only the thinking of the original artistic creators, but also the demands of the ruling class of the society. This kind of artistic creation is not a simple copy of a phenomenon, but a vivid depiction of the inner life of society, and the reinterpretation of ancient social cultural practice. This inner course is not only the instinct of the body sense, but also the embodiment of the willpower and the rationality, as well as the spiritual pursuit of the self. This is a unique path of artistic creation, which provided an overall depiction of the original life and society of an ancient southwestern ethnic group two thousand years ago, as well as depicting their natural and cultural landscape. In doing so, they provided an important material and cultural heritage for us today to explore the primitive art of the ancient southwestern ethnic groups and their habitat.