Chapter 10 Section 4 Pictorial Stones and Pictorial Bricks

Pictorial stone is a kind of mausoleum sculpture that rose in the Han Dynasty and declined in the Han Dynasty. It is of great significance in connecting the pre-Qin bronzes with the Buddhist statues of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The term "portrait" comes from epigraphy, and mainly refers to pictures on rubbings.This term is still used today, but the connotation is quite different.For example, portrait stones, at least it includes four links: drafting, engraving, painting, and rubbing (portrait bricks include drafting, carving, stamping, painting, rubbing, etc. Except for the special process of "kiln burning", the other four links are basically the same as those of the portrait stone).As far as each of the four links is concerned, they are a creation or a re-creation.For example, the use of lines and brushstrokes in "scribing stones", "engraving" has knife skills and texture, "painting" has color and charm according to the type, and "rubbing" has the power of ink penetrating the back of the paper and the clumsiness of stone ,etc.The stone portraits mentioned today should actually include all these four links.Since the line drawings have been shoveled off during the stone carving, and the colors have also been lost over the years, the stone portraits we see now are mainly semi-finished products that have lost their emotional "text", which is what we call reliefs today.There are high, medium and shallow reliefs of portrait stones, as well as a special relief - openwork.These techniques have long existed in bronze wares.Some techniques can be traced back to some sculptures of primitive society.But in use, the Han Dynasty gave full play to these techniques.One of the manifestations is to use stone as a material to record everything in the sky, the world, and the underground in an artistic image. This is much richer and more mature than Shang and Zhou bronzes that are limited to patterns or decorations. (Figure 15) Such as the gods in the sky, the monsters in the underground, the sage kings, wise emperors, virtuous ministers, loyal ministers, righteous men, filial sons, martyrs, as well as cooking, banquets, operas, lectures, archery, and travel in daily life Farming, farming and weaving, fishing and hunting, as well as animals, flowers and trees, various utensils, etc., are all reflected in the stone portraits.Precisely because the stone reliefs record in such a rich and detailed manner all aspects of Han society, from beliefs to production activities, it is no exaggeration to be called an encyclopedia of images of the Han Dynasty.What needs to be pointed out is that the encyclopedic style reflects the society of the Han Dynasty, and it is not the original purpose of the portrait stones or bricks as mausoleum sculptures.These human and non-human contents are mainly for the service of the dead, that is, for the immortality of the dead (ascension to immortality) or to make the deeds of the dead known forever.The contents of these sculptures all revolve around the future life of the deceased and the events worth commemorating or pursuing during his lifetime.In addition to serving the dead, there is also the prayer of the dead for the living.This mysterious motive of praying for the protection of the dead is often interspersed in the content of those pictures that serve the dead.For example, the image of some fish, or the combined image of fish and lotus playing, and bird pecking at fish, often alludes to the wish for a good harvest and reproduction.

Carriers of stone portraits mainly include stone towers, stone temples, sarcophagi (coffins), stone chamber tombs, and cliff tombs.Among them, there are two kinds worth mentioning: sarcophagus (coffin) and cliff tomb.Regarding the production time of the portrait stone, the present objects can be pushed back to Qin Dynasty. In 1976, a stone slab engraved with a diamond pattern was found in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.However, this is only one example of real objects in the Qin Dynasty, and a large number of real objects are still in the Han Dynasty.A new breakthrough in dating the pictorial stone may rest on the sarcophagus.First of all, the sarcophagus appeared very early, and the Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture, and Majiayao Culture of the primitive society were repeatedly discovered; secondly, in the records, there are "carved jade coffins" ("Historical Records·Funny Biographies") in the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period During the period, the tomb of King Xiang of Wei was "aragonite" (Volume 6 of "Miscellaneous Records of Xijing"); the real objects include stone carving panels with Panchi (panchi panchi) patterns in the tomb of King Zhongshan in the Warring States Period in Pingshan, Hebei, and portraits of the early Western Han Dynasty in Zaozhuang, Shandong. sarcophagus.Thirdly, painted coffins prevailed in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. For example, the tomb of Fuhao in the Shang Dynasty at Yinxu in Anyang, Henan, the tomb of Huang Mengjun and his wife in Xinyang, Henan in the early Spring and Autumn period, and the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in the early Warring States period in Suixian, Hubei, all have painted coffins unearthed.Especially for the latter two, the coffins are well preserved, and the exquisite paintings are still shining brightly.This style of painting coffins is transferred to stones, which are portrait sarcophagi.Fourth, the early stone reliefs in a region of the Han Dynasty often came from sarcophagi.This is the case in Shandong, Henan and other places, and sarcophagi with portraits in the early Western Han Dynasty have been discovered in Zaozhuang, Shandong and other places.With the development of archeology, it is not impossible to find earlier portrait sarcophagi.The above is the importance of the sarcophagus to the portrait stone in terms of dating and tracing.In terms of content, the sarcophagus also has a special contribution.The sarcophagus can only be engraved on a maximum of five sides (coffin lid, coffin sides, and coffin ends), and the space is limited. This requires a highly concentrated and concise picture.What is reflected in the sarcophagus is the simplicity and simplicity of the tomb concept of the Han Dynasty, that is, the content that can no longer be saved.The study of sarcophagus pictures often reveals the most basic utilitarian purpose of the Han Dynasty people in the tombs.To put it simply, these utilitarian purposes are: those who seek the dead will ascend to the fairy world; those who seek the living will survive and continue.The expressions of the desires for immortality, prosperity and reproduction include both concise artistic images and symbolic or symbolic forms.For example, the sarcophagus ascending to heaven comic strip, which is a portrait of Lanxi in Sichuan, is a condensed expression technique, and the use of Shengwen to represent the world of immortals is a symbolic or symbolic expression technique.

Cliff tombs are a unique form of burial in Sichuan. They are widely distributed in various parts of Sichuan. There are tens of thousands of them, and there are hundreds of them with portraits.Images are engraved on the cliffs. China began in the Paleolithic Age 10,000 years ago, and some nomads still had this habit in the Han Dynasty.However, these engraving methods are relatively primitive, and the shapes are at most bas-reliefs. Therefore, Chinese rock painting researchers collectively refer to such primitive carvings and paintings as petroglyphs.The difference between Sichuan cliff tomb stone carving portraits and original rock paintings is firstly that they reflect the thoughts and customs formed in the civilized society for thousands of years, such as Shengxian, Divination, historical stories, dancing and music, love between husband and wife, etc.; secondly, in sculpture In terms of techniques, there are relief treatment of large scenes, high-relief almost round carvings, incised line carvings with a strong gold and stone flavor, and round carvings of figures and animal pillars like "central pillars".These cliff carvings with plots and ideological content undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the large number of Buddhist caves opened in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Stone reliefs are mainly distributed in Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Northern Shaanxi, Xuzhou and other regions.Stone reliefs from Shandong are characterized by a complete sequence of year numbers and superb carving techniques.Henan (represented by Nanyang) pictorial stones are characterized by a complete sequence of stone chamber tombs and rough and unrestrained carvings. (Figure 16) Sichuan is characterized by rich folk customs and various carving forms.Stone reliefs in northern Shaanxi are characterized by a strong decorative style.The stone reliefs in Xuzhou are characterized by huge works with many scenes and contents.The stone materials in these areas include granite, limestone, bluestone, flake stone, sandstone and so on.During the repeated use of these stone materials in the Han Dynasty, rich stone carving techniques and experience were accumulated.This is the case, for example, with respect to volume.Relief stones are mainly in the form of reliefs. Reliefs generally obtain a sense of volume through the shadows caused by light, but relief stones create a sense of volume through the superposition of multiple planes.This technique has been pioneered in Liangzhu culture jades and Shang and Zhou bronzes, and it was widely used in stone materials in the Han Dynasty.In addition, at the same time of multi-layer superimposition, the portrait stone also uses block surfaces as a transition to create a visually direct sense of volume; or the two methods are applied to a stone at the same time to form a rough, unrestrained, fine and vigorous picture.These achievements made by the stone reliefs in the Han Dynasty did not disappear with the disappearance of the stone reliefs.The pictorial stone techniques that appear in Buddhist sculptures on the clothing of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and in the stories of Sutras show that the spirit of pictorial stones has been brought to the Western Paradise by craftsmen who opened niches and made grottoes.

Portrait bricks are a large variety of mausoleum sculptures. In the Han Dynasty alone, more than several million pieces have been discovered now.Like the pictorial stones, the use of pictorial bricks basically developed with the beginning of the Han Dynasty and declined with the end of the Han Dynasty.After the Han Dynasty, such as the Southern Dynasties, Tang, and Song Dynasties, although sporadic portrait bricks appeared, but time passed and the situation changed, and it has entered the end of the trend and cannot become a climate.

Portrait bricks are mostly made of mold printing.This method can be traced back to the primitive society pottery craft at the earliest.In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the printing method was widely used in bronze mold making, which made this method more perfect and mature.Judging from today's field archeology, daily necessities such as tiles, began to use the stamping method no later than the Western Zhou Dynasty.By the Warring States Period, a considerable number of hollow bricks and tiles with high artistic level had appeared.The portrait bricks of the Han Dynasty (mainly referring to the bricks used in mausoleums) should actually be regarded as the widespread application of this ancient art form.This is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: (1) The practical area is larger.In addition to bricks and tiles in daily life, a considerable amount is used in the tomb.In the Han Dynasty, there were specialized workshops manufacturing portrait bricks for sale. For example, in Dayi County, Sichuan, several cave sites for firing portrait bricks were found. (2) The encyclopedia style reflects the life of the Han Dynasty, and the content of the picture involves all aspects of social life. (3) The picture processing is more mature and has more artistic appeal.From the point of view of modeling methods, inscribed lines, raised lines, bas-reliefs, high-reliefs, and colored paintings are all played on the brick surface.Judging from the structure of the picture, there are not only a combination of multiple pictures, but also a single picture.The appearance of a single picture is of great significance in the history of art, and it has promoted painting to gradually become a mature and independent art form.

The distribution of portrait bricks is almost all over the country, and the most important distribution areas are Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi.In chronological order, it can be roughly divided into Maoling bricks in Shaanxi (middle Western Han Dynasty), Luoyang bricks in Henan (middle and late Western Han Dynasty), Zhengzhou bricks in Henan (late Western Han Dynasty, early Eastern Han Dynasty), Nanyang bricks in Henan (mid Western Han Dynasty to late Eastern Han Dynasty), and Sichuan bricks. (Western Han to Eastern Han) these types.Maoling portrait bricks are the earliest known mausoleum bricks. Some of the picture styles used in them have been used by later portrait bricks, which are more or less pioneering.Of course, in terms of artistic techniques, such as the cross use of line engraving and relief and the types of special-shaped bricks, the future ones will be much richer.In the process of the development of portrait brick art, important turning points are reflected in several types in Henan Province, and the mastery is reflected in Sichuan portrait bricks.

Luoyang bricks (including Yiyang County in the southwest of Luoyang) are hollow bricks.The perimeter of the large brick is a decorative strip composed of dense geometric patterns, and on the remaining large brick surface, figures, birds, animals, trees and other contents are printed with molds.The bricks of Luoyang portraits are all Yin lines, which are rough, unrestrained, unrestrained and vigorous, which makes people feel happy after seeing them. Zhengzhou portrait bricks (including Xinzheng, Mi County and other places under Zhengzhou and Yu County portrait bricks) use the same small mold or several small molds to repeatedly print patterns on the bricks densely.The most important feature of Zhengzhou portrait bricks is the introduction of a large number of myths and legends and aristocratic life into the art form of portrait bricks.For example, in the portrait bricks of Zhengzhou, one can see the earliest images of the Queen Mother of the West and Prince Dong, the male god of the fairy world corresponding to the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the earliest images of long-sleeved dancers and drum dancers.

Nanyang portrait bricks mainly refer to portrait bricks from Yangshi, Xinye County, Xichuan County, Fangcheng County and Deng County.In terms of content, themes that have never appeared in the past have been added, such as opera chariots (performing extremely difficult acrobatics on several carriages), fairy Liubo (Liubo is an ancient gambling game. A total of 12 chess, six black and six Bai, two people fight each other, each with six chess, hence the name), Sishui take a tripod (the story that Qin Shihuang failed to salvage the treasure tripod in today's ancient Sishui, Xuzhou), two peaches kill three scholars (in the spring and Autumn period, Yanzi, the famous prime minister of Qi State, used two peaches for Qi Jinggong Excluding the stories of the three warriors Gongsunjie, Tian Kaijiang, and Guyezi), etc.In terms of art form, the portrait bricks represented by Xinye have exquisite pictures.This delicacy is the product of the combination of the exquisite carving of wooden molds and the delicateness of brick mud.From the point of view of modeling methods, the shape of Xinye's portrait brick relief reflects just right. Some shapes, such as the condensed lines of Suzaku's feet and neck, are more concise, vigorous and graceful.

Sichuan portrait bricks are found all over the province, even in places that seem remote today.Judging from the existing objects, Chengdu and its surrounding areas are the densest.On Sichuan pictorial bricks, various methods such as inscribed lines, inscribed lines, shallow reliefs, and high reliefs in the above-mentioned areas are available.These means are often not used alone on a brick surface, but used in a cross-comprehensive manner.Therefore, on the portrait bricks in Sichuan, the beauty of painting embodied by engraved lines and the beauty of sculpture embodied by reliefs can often be seen.Sichuan portrait bricks reflect all levels, and often there are many variations of a theme, making the pictures of portrait bricks rich and vivid. (Fig. 17) Especially the portrait bricks of those single pictures convey a unique taste.For example, "The Gate of the House" shows the quiet courtyard where birds come and go at dusk, "Chariots and Horses Crossing the Bridge" shows the lively scene of fresh cars and angry horses swaggering through the market, "Swallow House" shows the intimate and stable married life, etc. These are just a few of the many wonderful monogram portrait tiles.

Appreciating the tomb carvings individually will naturally give you many feelings.But to get the beauty of combination and harmony, it is only possible when these sculptures return to their spatial relationship.Mausoleum sculptures without spatial relationship will lose a large part of their culture, and their artistic charm will also be greatly reduced.This is especially prominent in the stone carvings of ground mausoleums.The overall design of the mausoleum has planned the space, including the location of the stone carvings.Mausoleum stone carvings play the role of finishing touch in the mausoleum building, because of this, if the entire combination is lost, this "eye" will not exist.It is the Tang Mausoleum stone carvings that maximize the artistic role of mausoleum carvings.The above-ground mausoleum stone carvings of the Han Dynasty are mainly embodied in the idea of ​​a closed space, forming a rhythmic combination of horizontally laid out stone shrines, stone beasts, stone figures and upwardly rising stone towers.This is a static and harmonious combination.The stone carvings of the Tang Mausoleum are arranged in order according to the terrain occupied by the mausoleum.Since the mausoleum was built on mountains in the Tang Dynasty, the trend of traveling from the outside to the inside of the mausoleum is from bottom to top, gradually rising.This feature provides an opportunity for the conception of the setting of stone carvings in the royal mausoleum to fully display the carving function of the mausoleum.Take the Qianling tomb where Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) and Wu Zetian were buried together as an example.There used to be stone carvings at the four gates of Qianling Mausoleum, but now only the stone carvings outside the south gate (Suzaku Gate) are intact.On the several-kilometer-long Shinto, there are a pair of stone pillars, a pair of winged horses, a pair of red birds, five pairs of stone horses and horse-leaders, 10 pairs of civil servants and generals, and the "Sacred Monument Stele" and "Sacred Monument Tablet" and "Sacred Monument Tablet" and "Sacred Monument Tablet" are arranged in sequence from the outside to the inside. There are 61 Fan chiefs and a pair of squatting lions on each side of the stele without words.Judging from the setting of the group of stone sculptures, the climax is obviously in the two stone tablets ("Monument of Saints" and "Monument without Words").In order to achieve a strong effect, a long row of stone carvings was set up in front of the second stele.Through the high and low staggered, vertical and horizontal display, the stone carving queue appears to be full of rhythm, which makes the people passing by here ups and downs.The eight-meter-high stone pillars, borrowed from Liangshan where the mausoleum is located, arouse people's reverence from the very beginning; behind the stone pillars are a pair of 3.5-meter-high winged horses, adding a magical atmosphere to people; The six pairs of stone sculptures with a height similar to that of real people brought people back to their normal psychological state, but the 4.5-meter-high civil servants and generals who appeared soon uplifted people's emotions; through 10 pairs of stone statues, It was strengthened again and again, and when people's reverence was pushed to a peak, the "Sacred Monument" and "Wordless Monument" appeared.At this time, there is no need to read the text, only the stele, a very symbolic sculpture, appears, and the achievements of the tomb owner's martial arts and martial arts have been deeply imprinted in the minds of the visitors.At this time, 61 lower stone statues of Fan Chieftains spread out from the plane behind the stele, which deepen people's experience of the mausoleum owner's achievements in Wenzhi and martial arts.And the stone lion that comes at the end, which is arrogant to everything, once again makes people feel the majesty of the emperor. (Figure 18) Qianling stone carvings use time to complete the spatial structure, and make full use of height, horizontal and vertical, line and surface, density and other forms to produce a sense of rhythm and rhythm in the spatial structure, which is the best for the sculpture function of the mausoleum. example.Since then, the mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty and the mausoleums of the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties all followed this shape.From the perspective of mausoleum sculpture, there is no one that surpasses Qianling in all subsequent dynasties.