Art Garden Nanshan
2022-01-23 20:00
▕ Fuxi portrait brick Wei Jin Dunhuang Museum collection
The so-called portrait brick is a brick with a portrait or pattern that is molded or carved, mainly used for inlaying and decorating the tomb. Judging from the existing archaeological findings, from the late Warring States period to the Song and Yuan dynasties, the portrait bricks of the mainland continued to bloom on the historical stage for 14 or 5 centuries. In this long historical period, Chinese portrait bricks have generally experienced several stages of development, such as the abuse of the late Warring States period, the prosperity of the Qin and Han dynasties, the evolution and development of the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasties, and the gradual decline and decline after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
▕ Feather Man Divine Beast Portrait Brick Collection of Gaotai County Museum
In the fourteenth and fifth centuries of the existence and popularity of portrait bricks, although the image content of portrait bricks has undergone great changes with the changes of the times and social changes, as a product of the times, the content of portrait bricks is without exception a reflection of the historical style of the era in which they are located, and the craftsmen of ancient China are based on the real society when creating and manufacturing these portrait bricks, based on the ideological ideology of the people at that time, the imagination and creativity of people's art, and the image depicts the spiritual world and material life of the ancients at that time. It can be said that the portrait bricks of different historical periods are a historical picture depicting the material and spiritual life of the ancients at that time. In these historical scrolls, the color paintings of the Wei and Jin dynasties in Hexi are like bricks, which are unique and particularly brilliant with their distinct era and regional characteristics.
▕ Qilin portrait brick Wei Jin Dunhuang City Buddha Temple Bay tomb group excavated
The study of the Wei and Jin portrait brick tombs in the Hexi region of Gansu Province began with the excavation of the Dunhuang Buddha Temple Bay Portrait Brick Tomb in 1944. However, it did not attract attention until the 1970s, in the hexi region from Yongchang in the east to Dunhuang in the middle and west of the Hexi corridor stretching for nearly 100 kilometers, a number of ancient tomb groups mainly from the Wei and Jin dynasties were discovered, and some of these tombs were mural tombs or portrait brick tombs, in which archaeologists unearthed a large number of painted paintings and bricks. Compared with the portrait bricks unearthed in other parts of the country, the Wei Jincai painting portrait bricks in Hexi region show a strong unique style. From the perspective of image content, these portrait bricks show a wide range of themes, covering immortal beasts, silkworm farming, travel and hunting, feasting and living, entertainment, costumes, cars, buildings and residences and other themes, social life has a strong color; from the perspective of painting art style, The theme of Hexi portrait bricks is vivid and lively, the composition is simple and vivid, the lines are unrestrained, most of them are brick by brick, brick by scene, showing a strong atmosphere of the times. As a true portrayal of the life of the ancients in Hexi, these portrait tiles undoubtedly have high historical and artistic value.
▕ Xuan Bird Portrait Brick Wei Jin Dunhuang City Buddha Temple Bay Tomb Group excavated
Unit 1: Picture World
Like the Han Dynasty, the image content on the portrait tiles of The Wei and Jin Dynasties in Hexi, whether it is a depiction of the real world or an imagination of the immortal world, reflects the spiritual world of the ancients and shows their outlook on life and cosmology. At that time, according to the cognition of cosmic space, people arranged the portrait bricks in the tomb in order: the sun god and the moon god that represented the heavenly world, the portrait bricks of Fuxi and Nüwa and the portrait bricks of the West Queen Mother, the Eastern Prince, and the Heavenly Man were generally placed in a higher position on the wall of the tomb, and the portrait bricks showing the life of the tomb owner on the ground were placed in the middle and lower parts of the tomb wall: the picture content was the door gate, the carriage and horse, and the bricks that were driven from the drum were mostly placed in the tomb passage or the front burial chamber, and the kitchen, music and dance, and the historical story bricks were mostly in the middle of the tomb. Salt wells, farming, feasting, and Yanju bricks are mostly placed in the middle and rear mu chambers: the tomb door is more placed with samurai, four gods and auspicious spirit beast bricks.
▕ Nuwa Fuxi portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum collection
Group 1: The Heavenly World
With the migration of the population of the Central Plains at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, common mythological images in the Central Plains such as Fuxi, Nüwa, Fengbo, Leishen, Xihe, Gaomou, Eastern Princes, and Western Queen Mothers were transmitted to the Hexi region, and local artistic characteristics were integrated, forming a unique and splendid heavenly world content on the Wei and Jin portrait tiles in Hexi. Among them, the most common is the images of the Eastern Prince and the Western Queen Mother corresponding to the sun, moon, yin and yang, and the Kunlun Wonderland, which are people's rich imagination of the heavenly world at that time.
▕ Portrait brick of the Queen Mother of the West Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
The second group: categories of students
In the Wei and Jin tombs in hexi region, a large number of colorful paintings and bricks with the theme of gods, birds and beasts in Middle-earth, including xuanbirds, white elephants, sacred sheep, pegasus and four gods, are generally embedded in the most characteristic tomb wall of the Wei and Jin tombs in Hexi, constituting a world of strange miscellaneous objects and a variety of species. Whether it is fierce and majestic, the green dragon and white tiger that can ward off evil spirits and guard the tomb, or the condensation of human imagination, symbolizing the blessing of Fu Rui and the ten thousand birds, they all pin their wishes for the blessing of the gods.
▕ Suzaku Xuanwu Portrait Brick Wei Jin Jiuquan City Museum Collection
The third group: the tomb of the town to ward off evil spirits
The portrait bricks such as lux, doorman, and beast head in the tombs of Hexi Wei and Jin are mostly used for exorcism from town tombs. Unlike the rectangular horizontal composition of most portrait bricks, they are generally rectangular vertical compositions or square bricks, usually with structural functions, or symbolic doors, or guarded on both sides of the doors, or part of the structure of the quelou on the wall, or part of the rafters of the imitation wood structure that illuminates the wall. This kind of brick is interspersed with inlays, making the wall and inner wall of the portrait brick tomb more vivid and rhythmic in artistic shape, and is an important member of the decoration in the tomb to suppress evil spirits, protect the tomb owner, and ensure the tranquility of the underground.
▕ Monster Lux Portrait Brick Western Jin Dynasty Jinchang City Museum
Unit 2: Life is varied
The portraits of Hexi Wei and Jin are rich in themes and all-encompassing, including pictures showing farming and hunting ploughing, sowing, rake, raking, galloping horses and bows, eagle dogs hunting, whipping and grazing, livestock foraging, etc.; there are also pictures depicting daily life, song, dance, feasting, traveling, tea tasting, cooking and cutting meat, brewing wine and vinegar, etc.; there are also pictures describing the life and historical stories of Wubao. These pictures vividly reproduce the social life of various ethnic groups in the Hexi region during the Wei and Jin dynasties. Since Hexi is located in the Corridor of the Silk Road, these portrait brick images also bear the mark of the Silk Road of ethnic integration and trade exchanges.
▕ Erniu cultivated land portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
The first group: farming and hunting
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, Hexi was relatively stable, and the arrival of a large number of immigrants and the continuous implementation of the policy of persuading farmers to do so enabled the development of local agricultural production. The portrait bricks correspond to images of cultivated land, harrowing land, sowing, harvesting and mulberry picking. In terms of animal husbandry, the Hexi region has been "suitable for animal husbandry with water and grass" since the Han Dynasty, and when Emperor Daowu of northern Wei was selected as a place to nourish horses, camels, cattle and sheep because of "water and grass goodness", the scenes such as cattle and sheep grazing and hunting that appear in the portrait brick also reflect the regional characteristics of Hexi's equal emphasis on agriculture and animal husbandry.
▕ Caisang portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
Group 2: Carriage and horse travel
Carriage and horse travel has become a common subject in Han Dynasty tombs, which are reflected in portrait stones and portrait bricks. Among the Hexi portrait bricks, the carriage and horse travel is still an important subject, and according to the composition, it can be roughly divided into two types: one brick and one painting continuous and panoramic. Compared with the Han Dynasty car map, ox carts such as "calf car" and "dew car" are very characteristic of the times, or related to the driving fashion of the Wei and Jin dynasties in Hexi. These travel maps, which appear repeatedly in a number of portrait brick tombs in Hexi area, not only show the travel prestige of the tomb owner, but also the embodiment of the tomb owner's social interaction life, and are also important materials for studying the car public opinion system in this period.
▕ Carriage and horse travel portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
Group 3: Kitchen Feast
The animal husbandry in Hexi area is developed, there are many ethnic groups, and the portrait bricks of the kitchen and banquet drink present the local quite characteristic food culture. There are scenes of pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens slaughtered in the kitchen portrait tiles, as well as the process of drawing water, cutting meat, and cooking food. The image of the tomb owner often appears on the bricks of the feast portrait. Some scholars believe that all the portraits of the life themes of the tomb are centered on the tomb owner's feast and drinking.
▕ Slaughtering sheep, slaughtering pigs portrait stone Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
Group 4: Song and Dance Entertainment
Song and dance entertainment is also an important theme inherited from Han portraits, but compared with the previous generation of portrait bricks and stones, Hexi portrait bricks have integrated the characteristics of this period while simplifying the content theme. In terms of music and dance, ethnic migration has brought music from the northern and western regions into the Yellow River Basin, and musical instruments such as the waist drum of the Western Guizi also appear on the portrait tiles. The female music group was the main expression of music and dance life in the Wei and Jin dynasties in Hexi. In terms of entertainment, the intricate and diverse hundred plays rarely appear on the known Portrait Bricks of the Hexi Region, and the common entertainment activities are mainly Liubo.
▕ Music Portrait Brick Wei Jin Jiuquan Suzhou District Museum
Group Five: Inside and Outside the Manor
Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, many military dock fort organizations with the gate valves and strongmen as the core have emerged in the Yellow River Basin. The Dock Fort can be seen as a self-sufficient estate, where the production and life of the inhabitants are integrated. Among the excavated portrait brick tombs, Wubao is the subject matter of the Era in the Hexi Portrait Bricks. The shape of the dock fort on the portrait brick is different, there are people guarding the door of the dock house, and there are also scenes such as drills and trials in the dock fort, reflecting the social life inside and outside the dock fort under the manor economy.
▕ Wubao shooting bird portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
Group 6: Historical Allusions
The themes of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, the Loyal Ministers, the Ming Jun, and the Filial Daughters on the Han Dynasty Portrait Stone are rarely seen in the Wei and Jin portrait bricks in the Hexi region. After the "Yongjia Rebellion", the cultural part of the Central Plains from the Wei and Jin dynasties was transferred to Liangzhou (about the present-day Hexi region), and the subject matter of the portrait bricks of historical allusions in the Hexi region should be related to the local popular customs at that time.
▕ Li Guang riding a portrait brick Western Jin Dynasty Dunhuang Museum
Group Seven: Silk Road Imprints
The Hexi Corridor is a necessary place for cultural exchanges between China and the West, and its geographical location is special, where the culture of the Central Plains and the foreign cultures of the Western Regions collide and blend. As the hub of the Silk Road, the Hexi region belonged to Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, and after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, there were Han or ethnic minority regimes such as Qianliang, Houliang, Nanliang, Xiliang and Beiliang. The arrival of a large number of Hu people has caused the cultures of various ethnic groups to merge with mixed residences and intermarriage, and the emissaries have galloped on the Silk Road to convey information, and these cultural fusions have left a unique "imprint" on the portrait bricks of the Hexi region.
▕ Hu people lead camel mold printing bricks Tang Dunhuang Museum
Unit 3: Ninh Binh Blessing
The back room of the Hexi Portrait Brick Tomb mainly houses the coffins of the deceased as a dwelling place for the soul. The image content of the portrait bricks here depicts the tomb owner's inner bed, armament, and silk drapery symbolizing wealth. Whether it is a reflection of the real world or an imagination of the mysterious world, these images, without exception, from the level of funeral culture, reflect the ancient people's idea of rather peaceful blessings, and pin the living people's attachment to the deceased and their good wishes.
▕ Maid unboxed portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
Group 1: Armed Wealth
The front and back chambers of the Wei and Jin tombs in Hexi generally symbolize the "front hall and back room" of the tomb owner's living quarters. The portrait brick themes in the front room are generally ascending immortals and secular life. The back room is the place where the coffin is placed, and the portrait bricks are mostly private objects such as the tomb owner's inner bed, weapons, and silk veils symbolizing wealth.
▕ Weapon portrait brick Wei Jin Gaotai County Museum
The second group: sustenance acacia
In the Wei and Jin portrait brick tombs in the Hexi region, there are many types of burial varieties. Among them, there are a large number of pottery, including ding, bell, stove, well, barn, bowl, cup, bottle, etc., some of which are practical utensils in people's daily life at that time, and some of which are pinned on the beautiful ideals of people pursuing a happy life. For example, the pottery barn means the prosperity of life, and the pottery lamp means the harmony of the family. At the same time, the tombstones, land purchase vouchers, clothing and other documents that accompanied the burial reflected the good wishes of people at that time to hope that the living would be rich and the deceased would be peaceful, and it was also a precious historical material for studying the social life and folk beliefs of that time.
▕ "Yongjia Five Years" Pottery Bucket Bottle Western Jin Dynasty Jiuquan Suzhou District Museum
The picture and text are excerpted from the public account of Nanshan Of Yiyuan