During the Qin and Han Dynasties, brick and tile manufacturing technology was superb, and the types of building materials were diverse, known as "Qin Brick Han Tile". At this time, in addition to the practical function of brick and tile building materials, there are many decorative bricks and tiles with rich patterns, the more common ones are cloud patterns, words, animals, plant patterns, etc., which have rich connotations, reflecting the worship of natural things and artificial creations in the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Among them, the most typical plant pattern bricks and tiles, this kind of decorative building materials inherited the Xia Shang Zhou, and was prosperous and developed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, highlighting the worship of plants, especially trees, by the ancients in the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Qin and Han plant pattern bricks and tiles
There are two main types of plant-patterned brick and tile building materials in the Qin and Han Dynasties: one is the plant-patterned tiles. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there were a large number of plant pattern tiles, and the tiles located on the eaves had a strong decorative effect. During the Spring and Autumn Period, most of them were realistic patterns of plants and trees, and during the Warring States period, they developed into abstract and symmetrical leaf patterns, flower bud patterns and geometric tree patterns.
By the late Warring States period and the Qin Dynasty, it gradually disappeared and evolved into small grass blades and leaf patterns, which were combined with cloud patterns. The Han Dynasty plant pattern is not the mainstream tile pattern, and it has developed while continuing to use the Qin Dynasty pattern style, mainly based on various "tree house" and "grass leaf animal" combination patterns, and the number of single plant pattern tiles is rare.
The second is the plant pattern hollow brick and portrait brick. The Decorative Brick Building Materials pattern of the Qin Dynasty already has a string pattern and a curly curve strip pattern resembling a vine plant, but this pattern is also similar to the deformed cloud pattern.
After entering the Western Han Dynasty, a large number of abstract plant patterns appeared on the brick building materials, vines, grass leaves, tree patterns are all there, because hollow bricks and portrait bricks are tomb bricks, so the "evergreen" pattern is the most common, the evergreen tree and the symmetrical tree-shaped pattern in the Qin Han tile are consistent, and there is an obvious inheritance relationship between the two.
In addition to the symmetrical tree pattern, there are many patterns of plants, trees, and buildings, which are more complex, both with trees as the composition center and architecture as the composition center, and the content of the pattern is mostly the living state of the tomb owner.
The origin of the Qin and Han plant pattern bricks
There are many sources of plant pattern bricks and tiles in the Qin and Han dynasties: the first is the Neolithic and plant pattern decorative patterns of the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods. There are various chorded plant patterns in the Majiayao culture faience pattern in the Neolithic majiayao culture in Gansu, and there are sacred tree-shaped decorative patterns in the Dawenkou culture in Shandong.
There are banana leaf patterns on bronzes in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which shows that the ancients used plant patterns to decorate the utensils without interruption. The surface of brick and tile building materials in the Qin and Han Dynasties was depicted and molded with plant patterns, which was also a continuation of this phenomenon.
Second, the Craftsmen of the Qin State in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty created the Qin culture plant pattern tiles on the basis of the Shang Zhou plant pattern pattern, which created a precedent for the Qin and Han plant pattern bricks and tiles, which can be considered as the origin of the plant pattern bricks and tiles in the Qin and Han Dynasties, which is of great significance in the history of the development of decorative building materials.
The Spring and Autumn Period Tree House Pattern Tile found at the Baoji Yongcheng Ruins in Shaanxi Province is the earliest Qin culture tree pattern tile, and the face of the tile is composed of trees, houses and animals, and this realistic pattern is a simulation of real life. From the perspective of manufacturing process, the face pattern of this tile is hand-carved, so that the production efficiency is low and fewer physical objects are found.
Third, the geometric plant pattern tiles formed by the Qin State after absorbing the plant pattern bricks and tiles of other Eastern countries. The tree pattern tiles of the Middle and Late Warring States of Qi are unique, with strong artistry and influence, and this abstract symmetry of tree pattern tiles has a certain influence on the tile patterns of the nations.
In the late Warring States period, when economic and cultural exchanges were frequent among the countries, Qin culture was deeply influenced by the tree pattern tiles of the State of Qi, and the realistic plant patterns disappeared during the Spring and Autumn Period, and were replaced by symmetrical plant patterns, such as four-leaf patterns, flower bud patterns, and flat tree patterns.
After entering the Western Han Dynasty, the art of brick and tile patterns still inherited the Qin Dynasty, and only a small number of realistic plant pattern bricks and tiles existed when geometric plant patterns were the mainstream.
Fourth, the influence of the "sacred tree" in the social concept of the Qin and Han dynasties, the use of trees in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties has become customized, "the Xia Hou clan is pine, the Yin people are cypress, and the Zhou people are chestnut."
During the Qin and Han dynasties, plant worship was more popular. During the Qin Wengong period, there was a legend of the "Great Zi Niu God", "(Wen Gong) Twenty-seven years, Fellan Mountain Dazi, Feng DaTe." There was a cow god in the catalpa tree, and later a "Nute Temple" was built here to sacrifice, which can be known that the Qin people worshiped the catalpa tree.
In the Han Dynasty, the white elm tree was the national legal sacred tree, and the Han Dynasty land shrine was called the "Yu Yu Society", and Liu Bang first raised troops in his hometown of Feng County to "pray for the Feng Yu Society", and then led the anti-Qin rebel army with fellow villagers Xiao He, Zhou Bo, Lu Xie and others as the central think tank to form the YangYang Han Empire within a few years.
As far as the construction industry is concerned, thatched roofs, house beams and columns, wooden bone mud walls, etc. are all used to use different plants and wood, so in the qin and Han dynasties, brick and tile building materials developed in the period, various plants and tree patterns were naturally applied to brick and tile building materials.
The connotation of a typical botanical pattern of bricks and tiles
(1) The pattern of Qinshu House reflects that plants are closely related to people's lives
The ancient Chinese plant cult has a long history, and various plants are closely related to the lives of the ancients, and they are important means of production and means of life. The face of the Qin Tree House pattern tile is round, the face pattern is a hall house, there are trees under the house, and there are several utensils next to the trees.
This type of tile reflects the trend of planting trees next to the house at this time, and planting trees next to the house can play a multiple role in conserving water, maintaining water and soil, and purifying the air.
(2) The pattern of the Han cash cow reflects wealth
The Han Dynasty prevailed as a cash cow, showing the idea of seeking wealth and nobility. The cash cow is the mascot of the Han Dynasty, "you can live forever when you get it, and you can roll inexhaustibly with the money you use." There is also the image of the cash cow in the tile pattern, which is based on the tree pattern tile and adds two symmetrically distributed "half two" coin patterns, which can also be inferred that its era should be in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty.
(3) The Pattern of the Han Changsheng Tree embodies the Longevity
Han Dynasty brick chamber tombs are popular, in the hollow bricks and portrait bricks often have the image of the longevity tree, the outer outline of this longevity tree is leaf-like, the interior with upright lines to express the trunk, with parallel lines to express the branches, representing the meaning of immortality.
Trees generally have a long life cycle, especially the pine cypress is also evergreen, the Ancients of the Qin and Han Dynasties believed that this is the representative tree of immortality, and planted it widely around the tomb, hoping that the deceased can also live as long and immortal as these trees, which is also contained in the literature, such as "Peacock Southeast Flying": "East and west planted pines, left and right planted sycamores, branches covered, leaves and leaves traffic." ”
(4) Mythological plant patterns embody prayers for blessings
Many mythological stories in the pre-Qin period gradually formed a system and were gradually accepted by the people in the Han Dynasty. Plants with special meanings such as "Fuso", "Wakaki", "Toad Palace Folding Gui", and "Fengqi Sycamore" have become popular patterns, and most of these patterns are combined forms.
Influence of plant-patterned bricks and tiles in the Qin and Han dynasties
During the Qin and Han dynasties, plant-patterned bricks and tiles had a profound impact on later generations. First of all, the realistic and abstract plant patterns of the Qin and Han dynasties have a strong artistic decorative effect, which is still an important decorative pattern although the Han Dynasty was not the mainstream ornament. After entering the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it gradually combined with the honeysuckle pattern and lotus pattern introduced from the Western Regions to become one of the building material decorative patterns prevalent in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The most representative is the Qin lotus pattern tile pattern, which profoundly affects the structure of the Sui and Tang dynasty lotus patterns. It can be said that the Sui and Tang Dynasty lotus pattern brick and tile patterns are based on this gradual evolution into various styles, and later plant patterns are widely used in residential buildings, such as brick carving, roof decoration and so on.
Secondly, some plants with beautiful meanings in the Qin and Han dynasties, especially tree patterns, continued to circulate and evolve, such as "Toad Palace Folding Gui", "Fengqi Wutong", "Lost East Corner, Harvested Mulberry Elm", etc., these story pattern lines are simple and bright, beautiful and generous, indirectly promoting the figuration of some mythological stories and becoming a readable pattern story, which provides a basis for its wide circulation. To this day, many gods and beasts can be traced back to the Han Dynasty portrait bricks, which are developed and evolved on the basis of the Han portrait brick pattern.
The plant pattern brick and tile pattern of the Qin and Han Dynasties is unique, and on the basis of inheriting the previous generation of plant patterns, it has continuously innovated and developed, from the initial tile decoration to the application of hollow bricks and portrait bricks, both realistic and abstract patterns.
By the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, a variety of plant patterns with unique connotations had been formed, such as tree house patterns, cash cow trees, longevity trees, mythological plant patterns, etc., most of which showed the good wishes of praying for blessings, seeking wealth and wealth, and seeking eternal life. These patterns have had a profound impact on future generations, one is to have an impact on the plant patterns of later generations, and the other is to visualize mythological stories, and many of today's gods and beasts are derived from han Dynasty portrait brick patterns.