The relationship between chinese characters and artefacts: A semantics mapping analysis

Figures & data

Table 1. Script development of Chinese characters.

Development phase	Name of script	Typical pattern
Paleo-script phase (about 1700 B.C. – the year one)	The Oracle script
	The Bronze script
	The Seal script
Clerical-regular script phase (the year one – today)	The Clerical script
	The Regular script
	The Simplified script

Figure 1. Basic diagram of the conceptual blending process.

Figure 2. The semantic model of Chinese artefacts.

Figure 3. The blending process between the Chinese character ‘光’ and the bronze lamp.

Figure 4. The blending process between the Chinese character ‘簠’ and the artefact fu.

Figure 5. The blending process between the Chinese character ‘xing’ and the fifteen-branches lamp of Zhongshan.

Figure 6. A bronze jue from the 11th century B.C. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/42172.

Figure 7. The blending process between the Chinese character ‘jue’ and the corresponding artefact.

Figure 8. The blending process between the Chinese character ‘tian’ and the fruit plate design.