Chapter 8 Chapter VIII Qin and Han Dynasty tile art

Emperors such as Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi lived extravagantly and luxuriously.Many poets in later generations have described this, such as "Xianyang Palace is lush and towering, and the towers and towers of the Six Kingdoms are gorgeous and beautiful".This can be seen only from the scope, fragments, tiles and damaged building components of the palace ruins in the area from Weicheng to Lintong in Xianyang, Shaanxi.The emperors advocated generous burials, and built mausoleums to enjoy the halls, which are no less magnificent than palaces.Aristocratic officials and local tyrants competed with each other, and tile art developed unprecedentedly. No era of tile art can compare with Qin and Han tiles.

There are three types of Qinwadang: semicircle, large semicircle and circle.The smallest diameter is only eight centimeters, and the largest tile is the large semicircular tile unearthed from the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang (Figure 4). The tile is 47.5 cm high and 61 cm wide.Some patterns inherit the style of the Warring States period, such as tiles with deer and bird patterns, a tree in the center, two deer walking towards the tree with objects in their mouths, and a bird like a wild goose flying high above.Most of the patterns are arranged directly in front of the face, such as dragon patterns, giant tornado horns, mouth and tongue, body curled in a bow shape, dragon tail curled upwards from thick to thin, dragon claws are slender, with three claws on the front legs and two claws on the hind legs, forming a crawling pattern. Kui pattern, with a balanced and neat composition covering the face; Kui phoenix pattern, is a strong phoenix bird, or flying, or standing with its head held high; a group of birds facing the phoenix, standing in the center is a phoenix bird with outstretched wings, and a group of long standing around it Beaked bird; deer pattern, face to face is a realistic and exaggerated long-horned deer, some are running and turning their heads, some are leaping and galloping, some have small deer beside them, and some have a big deer surrounded by hunters and hounds.Some are divided into four units face to face, each unit is separated by double lines, and there is one big fish in each unit.For some round tiles, a convex groove divides the front face into two, corresponding to the pattern of double phoenixes facing the sun, a Tai Chi figure in the center represents the sun, and the two phoenixes dance towards each other on both sides.Some are facing a big bird with a long beak and a big fish in its mouth.In front of some is a tiger with eyes wide open, swallowing a wild goose flying towards it.Some patterns are composed of lines and birds, such as the double-crane cloud pattern, with a circle in the center and a pair of cranes standing beside the circle. The periphery is divided into four equal parts by double lines, and each unit contains a cloud.Bird cloud pattern, the center is the sun pattern, shining radiantly, surrounded by flowing clouds composed of dotted lines, and a bird stands alone on the top.In the pattern of deer, a round button protrudes from the center, surrounded by two circles, surrounded by flowing clouds, and under the clouds are deer chasing by Mercedes-Benz.Flying bird pattern, be careful to protrude a large button, which is divided into several units face to face, and each unit of flying bird spreads its wings.The same face-to-face can also be divided into four equal parts by double lines, with two sheep facing each other, two deer running with their backs facing each other, swan geese volleying in the sky, and two tortoises chasing each other.In the tiles of the Qin Dynasty, pictures composed of animals and characters appeared, such as "Swan Goose Yannian", in which a swan goose stretching its neck and wings was made in an exaggerated way and stood quietly in the center, with the word "Yannian" written in seal script on the top.In the combination of human and animal patterns, the power of human is always huge, the most obvious is the image of dragon slaying in the tile.In the minds of the Chinese people, the dragon is a symbol of incomparable strength. However, someone in Qinwa held a sharp sword and pierced into the belly of the leaping dragon.Character tiles, in addition to the aforementioned "Swan Goose Yannian" tiles, which are decorated with characters and birds, there are also tiles that are all decorated with characters.The general four-character arrangement, such as "Yuyang Qianqiu" and "Yuyang Qiansui", also has 12 characters of tiles: "Weitian descends, prolongs Yuanyuan for thousands of years, and the world is peaceful", mainly praising the great cause of Qin's unification and wishing the world well-being. .Others include geometric patterns composed of various lines.This means that the complicated and mysterious style represented by bronze art in slavery society has been replaced by the idealistic artistic style in which feudal society extracts creative materials from life, society and nature.

In the Han Dynasty, Chang'an was the largest city in the world at that time, with Jianzhang Palace, Shanglin Garden, Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Gui Palace, Mingguang Palace, Beigong and other large palace complexes, with a construction area of ​​36 square kilometers.There are more than 30 palace buildings in Weiyang Palace alone, which are dazzling, showing the majesty and majesty of the Han Empire. "Han Xing, breaking the arc and making it round, carving and carving to make it simple" ("Hanshu · The Preface to the Cruel Officials"), as a kind of ceramic components, the tiles in the Han Dynasty reached the highest level and the technology was the most mature.There are two kinds of half tiles and round tiles, which are more practical than Qin tiles.Half tiles are generally about 8-10 cm in diameter, and round tiles are generally about 11-20 cm in diameter.The arrangement of tile patterns is more flexible and varied, with a protruding breast nail in the center, or a round flower, echoing the frame.Arrange patterns around the space around the milk nails. The patterns of the patterns are:

Green dragon pattern, the dragon's mouth is long and wide open, the dragon's tongue is a curve, some of the bodies are thicker than snakes, some are as strong as tigers and leopards, and the dragon's claws are like the limbs of beasts, but with more curved and elegant whiskers.The scales, some are like fish scales, some are like irregular diamonds, and some are like the stripes on the backs of tigers and leopards, which are different from dragons after Tang and Song Dynasties.In the Han Dynasty, the dragon pattern, the tiger pattern, the red bird pattern, and the turtle and snake (basalt pattern) formed the four gods, also known as the four spirits.The dragon pattern is also called Qinglong. Qinglong walks in the sky, can ride the clouds and ride the fog, call the wind and call the rain.

Tiger pattern, also known as white tiger, is depicted as mighty and strong, with its head held high and its neck stretched out, its body is in an arc shape, its limbs are strong, its front and rear limbs are on the ground, crawling, the other two limbs are raised high, its tail is curled up, and its stripes are patterned. The irregular arc shape is more realistic than Qinglong, and it is more magical than Qinglong due to the use of exaggerated curves.Some tiger-striped necks are as thick as their bodies, with wings growing from their backs.Some tiles are surrounded by milk-shaped buttons, and four tigers follow each other head to tail.Some breast buttons depict a toad, with dragons on the left and tigers on the right.The white tiger represents the right, the west, and autumn among the four gods who are tired of victory.

Suzaku, a vigorous bird.The Suzaku on the Han tile is more like a peacock, with sharp pecks, high feathers on the top of the head, and powerful wings spread out.In the center, the protruding breast stud is nailed to the center of the wing, and the tail hair is curled.Suzaku is an ideal auspicious bird, representing the south, the bottom, and summer. Xuanwu is a combination of turtles and snakes.The milk nail pattern in the center is in the center of the turtle's back, and the snake wraps around the turtle's body.The bow-shaped snake head, which opens its mouth and spits out its core, corresponds to the high-spirited glans.Some tortoises are crawling frontally, with a very long neck, head to the right, and two snakes entwined on their bodies, with two snake heads on the left and right attacking it, which is very vivid.In people's ideology, Xuanwu symbolizes the north, above and winter.

The animal head is patterned on the tile, the ears of the animal head are erect, the canine teeth exposed in the big cracked mouth are particularly thick, and the hair bundles are curly, filling the face. Animal patterns also include leopard, phoenix, rosebird cloud, three crane, frog, jade rabbit and frog, horse and so on.Some animal patterns and characters are combined, such as "two vests in the world", with two horses on the top and the text "Jia Tianxia" on the bottom.People can tell what these animals are portraying at a glance, and they are arranged in a very balanced and full face-to-face, but they also make full use of exaggerated techniques, and their shapes are changeable.The claws of dragons and squirrels are as strong as those of beasts. The necks of tigers are as thick as their bodies, and their wings and whiskers are elegant and vigorous. The necks of tortoises are particularly long and powerful.This kind of change, exaggeration, and trade-offs are all to highlight the spirit, without compromising the characteristics of the objects, but adding to their temperament. This is a characteristic of the Qin and Han tiles.

Geometric patterns and plant pattern tiles, some have a wider outer border, and a circle inner border every other groove, a circle is added to the central mastoid edge, and eight almond-shaped leaves are evenly connected, and the rest are divided into four parts along the inner edge , to draw cloud patterns.Some mastoids are surrounded by four persimmon pedicles.The periphery is divided into four equal parts by double straight lines, and each equal part is a connected moiré.Some tiles are divided into four equal parts, the inner and outer circles are divided into four equal parts, and each equal part of the inner circle is a single-hook moiré, and the outer circle is two corresponding, which is also a single-hook moire; It is a cloud pattern, and each cloud pattern develops to both sides like a goat's horn.Four curved lines parallel to the frame connect the moiré patterns of the two units.Some moiré borders add a zigzag pattern for a week.In some cases, the interval lines between the moires of each unit are made into rope patterns.Some geometric patterns are composed of long and short straight lines, triangles, and dot patterns.Some patterns are composed of moiré plus triangular pattern or moiré plus parallel lines, or adding octagonal stars, or adding scattered points, or adding circles, or swirl patterns plus semicircular moiré.Some have cloud pattern on the periphery, bead pattern in the center, and net pattern or rope pattern outside the cloud pattern. The combination of lines is very smooth and has the beauty of melody.

Some of the characters tiles are the names of buildings, some indicate place names, and some indicate the purpose of buildings.For example, "Guan" is the gate of the pass, "Wei" is the official office of the Forbidden Army, and the word "Zhong" is used for the construction of mausoleums.Some express auspiciousness, some express certain wishes, and some express spiritual beliefs.The characters arranged in the circular area of ​​the Wadang surface range from one character to 12 characters.