唐韵 TangYun (金 Jin) Icons 1.0
Description: 使用中研院金文生成.
Chinese - English - Jin - IM Status Dictionary:
http://lancaster.themex.net/archives/1261
金文亦称“铭文”或“钟鼎文”，乃铸或刻于青铜器上的文字，承接甲骨文而起。初始于商末，盛于西周，记录的内容与当时社会，尤其是王公贵族的活动息息相关，多为祀典、赐命、征伐、围猎及契约之事。大部分人以周宣王在位时期铸造的毛公鼎[1]金文（又称西周金文）为代表，毛公鼎铭文共三十二行，四百九十七字[2]。
西周以降，金文被普遍地使用，而用途则无甚改变[3]。据统计，其文约有三千零五字，可辨识者，计有一千八百零四字，比甲骨文略多。由于商周盛行青铜器，而青铜礼器以“鼎”为代表，乐器以“钟”为代表，故刻于其上之金文，亦因而得“钟鼎文”之名。
维基中文: http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E9%87%91%E6%96%87&variant=zh-cn
Chinese Bronze inscriptions are writing in a variety of Chinese scripts on Chinese bronze artifacts such as zhōng[1] bells and dǐng tripodal cauldrons from the Shāng dynasty to the Zhōu dynasty and even later. Early bronze inscriptions were almost always cast (that is, the writing was done with a stylus in the wet clay of the piece-mold from which the bronze was then cast), while later inscriptions were often engraved after the bronze was cast.[2]
Wikipedia EN: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions