西周铜器中有一部分带有月相纪年的铜器,其纪年铭文为铜器的分期提供了比较客观准确的标准。历象方法就是以长历来推断纪年铭文所纪的年、月和月相,由此断定铜器的分期。早在宋代,吕大临就以这种方法推定过散季簋的年代。不过,当时的历象方法与今天所说的历象方法不可同日而语,真正意义上的历象法西周铜器研究还是开始在清代以后。铜器上的纪年铭文一般包括四个要素:年、月、日(干支)、月相,如牧簋铭文“七年十 Some bronze vessels with lunar phases in the Western Zhou Dynasty bronze ware provide more objective and accurate standards for the staging of bronze vessels. The method of historical imagery is to deduce the year, month and moon phases of the inscribed inscriptions on the basis of the long calendar, thus concluding the staging of bronze. As early as the Song Dynasty, Lv Da-lin inferred in this way over the age of scattered season. However, the historical methods at the time were not in the same way as the methods of the images described today, and the study of the real sense of the Fashi Week bronze ware began after the Qing Dynasty. The inscription on the bronze inscription generally includes four elements: year, month, day (dry branch), the moon phase, such as the pastoral inscription "Seven years ten