Chapter 11 Section 4 Carvings in the Underground Part of the Mausoleum

Because the carvings under the mausoleum are well preserved, they are more numerous and more colorful than those on the ground, providing us with a large number of art treasures. The largest and most exquisite sculptures that can be seen in the early tombs are the terracotta warriors and horses in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.This is a kind of pottery that is molded with soil and then fired. From the thousands of terracotta warriors that have been unearthed, it can be divided into four types of arms: crossbow, infantry, chariot, and horse.They are arranged in a neat queue, and the size is similar to that of a real person. At a glance, they are similar in appearance, but they have different expressions when viewed closely.What's more interesting is that each figurine is decomposed into seven parts including head, hands, torso, and feet, which are shaped and fired separately, and then assembled into a whole.This method of mass production reflects the high level of craftsmanship of Qin Dynasty sculpture.The thousands of terracotta warriors and horses are only a small part of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, and they are only the sacrificial area outside the underground palace of the mausoleum. The real masterpieces in the underground palace must be even more amazing.

The underground tombs of the Han Dynasty were all constructed of bricks or stones, mostly in the form of plate beams, that is, the walls and roofs of the tombs were all constructed of large stones and bricks.The bricks are about 1.5 meters long, 0.6-0.8 meters wide, and 0.2-0.3 meters thick.Later, in order to facilitate manufacturing, the roof of the tomb was changed to a structure made of arched coupons or small bricks layered on top of each other.In the tombs of this period, the surfaces of stone and bricks were mostly decorated with carvings, which are called portrait stones and portrait bricks.The carving method is to carve seals on the surface of masonry with a knife. Those without ups and downs are called line carvings, and those with high and low levels are called bas-reliefs.The carved images include figures, plants, beasts and buildings, and most of them show the life of the owner of the tomb, such as banquets, hunting, herding, traveling, rent collection, etc.; Such as sowing, harvesting, boiling salt and other labor scenes.Some of these carvings are compact in composition and exquisite in carving; some are rough, but very vivid and elegant, leaving behind a batch of precious materials of ancient folk life and art for today.

The imperial tombs of the Song Dynasty have not been excavated so far.In a batch of Song, Liao, and Jin tombs that have been excavated, we have seen another style of sculpture.Most of the small and medium-sized tombs scattered in Henan and Shanxi are built of bricks, and the tombs are not big, some of which are only two meters square.Their characteristic is that the four walls of the tomb are decorated with the surroundings of the tomb owner during his lifetime. For example, the tombs of Dong Hai and Dong Ming in Houma City, Shanxi were built in the Jin Dynasty (Figure 12), and the walls of the tomb show the residence of the tomb owner. Image, each side is a three-bay house, with doors and windows; the tomb owner and his wife sit on both sides of the front table, with food and flowers on the table; some have a stage, on which male and female actors are performing operas.All these images are all carved out of bricks, including the pillars, beams, bucket arches under the eaves, lattice decorations on doors and windows, and even the expressions of the characters on the small stage.When you are in the tomb, you seem to be back in the real living environment.This secular expression is characteristic of tomb buildings in this period.

The excavation of the underground palaces of the tombs of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties has enabled us to see another kind of sculpture of the tomb architecture.The underground palace of Ming Dingling Mausoleum revealed to us for the first time the magnificent appearance of the underground palace, but there are not many decorative carvings in the underground palace of Dingling Mausoleum, and it is the Yuling Underground Palace of the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty that really shows the carving art of the underground palace.Yuling is the mausoleum of Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty.Qianlong was emperor for 60 years and lived to be 89 years old. He called himself "the old man of perfection".The underground palace is made of stone, with a depth of 54 meters and an area of ​​372 square meters.The surrounding walls and roof of the entire underground palace are carved with Buddhist decorations; the four tomb doors and eight door leaves are all made of bluestone with a height of three meters, a width of 1.5 meters, and a thickness of 19 centimeters and a weight of three tons; There is a statue of a Bodhisattva carved on each door.They wear Buddha crowns with lotus petals on their heads, rings on their ears, bare chest and arms on their upper bodies, long scarves fluttering on their shoulders, passionflowers in their hands, long skirts on their lower bodies, and long hanging pearl chrysanthemums around their waists. , barefoot, standing on the hibiscus flower out of the water, with affectionate face, light and dignified body, decorated with bas-relief curly grass patterns around the tall statue.In the main underground palace tomb, there are three big Buddha flowers carved on the top, the flower center is composed of Buddha statues and Sanskrit characters, and the outer ring has 24 petals.On the east and west walls of the tomb, there are Buddha statues and patterns of eight treasures symbolizing auspiciousness.The surrounding walls are engraved with Indian Sanskrit scriptures and Fanwen scriptures with Tibetan phonetic notation. There are 647 characters in Sanskrit and 294,645 characters in Fanwen.All these Bodhisattva statues, scriptures, and decorative patterns are properly placed on the top of the wall of the underground palace. The layout is compact and the carvings are exquisite. The entire Yuling Underground Palace has become an underground Buddhist hall.