中国古代镜铭的多重属性与嬗变历程

Advertising, Proverbs and Poetry: Multiple Attributes and Evolution of Ancient Chinese Mirror Inscriptions

铭虽是独立的文体,但镜铭却兼有赞辞、箴言、诗词等多种属性。其中,赞辞与诗词属性多体现在镜背铸刻铭文上,箴言属性多体现在案头读物铭文上。铸刻镜铭是镜背纹饰的组成部分,主要赞美镜子的质量、功能、品格,祝愿照镜人升官、发财、长寿、成仙、人丁兴旺等,书写女性使用者的美貌、华贵、闺怨等,或者附加生产经营者的信息。其在汉魏六朝时期拼凑痕迹明显,缺乏辞采技巧,基本属于民间形态;在唐代则以六朝诗赋为范本,呈现出文人形态,并在宋代之后随着镜背纹饰的简化而渐趋没落。案头镜铭是文人镜铭摆脱镜背束缚和赞辞属性后的产物,有托物警示、劝诫、载德、言志的作用,从帝王鉴戒、臣民颂德的政治话语走向了斋室物品组铭行列的修身话语。清代金石学、考古学兴盛,学者们钟情于收藏、研究汉唐古镜,案头镜铭的写作在某种程度上有意模仿铸刻镜铭,不再是清一色的箴言。与此同时,镜铭也渐渐从泛化的镜意象中脱离出来,变成具体的诗歌意象。

Although the inscription is an independent style,the mirror inscription has many attributes such as advertisement,proverbs,poetry,etc.,of which the attributes of advertisement and poetry are mostly reflected in the inscription on the mirror back,and the attribute of proverbs is mostly reflected in the inscription on the desk reading. The engraved mirror inscription is a part of themirror back decoration. It mainly praises the quality,function and character of the mirror,wishes the mirror spotters promotion,wealth,longevity,immortality,and prosperity,and writes about the beauty,luxury,and grievances of female users,or adds informa-tion about the producers and operators. In the Han,Wei and Six Dynasties,it was obviously patched up and lacked the skills of dictioncollection,which was basically a folk form;In the Tang Dynasty,the poems and Fu of the Six Dynasties were taken as the model,showing the form of literati,and after the Song Dynasty,with the simplification of the mirror back decoration,it gradually declined. Thedesk reading mirror inscription is the product of the scholar mirror inscription after getting rid of the shackles of the mirror back and theadvertising attribute. It has the function of warning,admonishing,carrying virtue and expressing aspiration. From the political discourseof the emperor’s admonition and the subjects’ praise of virtue,it has moved to the self-cultivation discourse of the room articles groupinscription. In the Qing Dynasty,epigraphy and archaeology flourished. Scholars were fond of collecting and studying the ancient mir-rors of the Han and Tang dynasties. The writing of the mirror inscriptions on desk reading materials was intended to imitate the castingmirror inscriptions to some extent,which was no longer an exclusive motto. At the same time,the mirror inscriptions gradually separa-ted from the generalized mirror images and became specific poetic images.