The two Han Dynasties, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties
"Fear of the beast" full body, half body, head
Three types of image analysis
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The image of "fearing the beast" appeared in large numbers during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the image of "fearing the beast" also reached its peak at this time. Whether it is the Two Jin Dynasties or the Southern and Northern Dynasties, whether it is Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, or Taoism, you can see the image of "fearing the beast". It is also considered by Zoroastrian scholars to be the "flame-shouldered god" of Zoroastrianism. The whole body image of "fearing the beast" is basically more obvious, and it can be roughly distinguished and recognized. The bust and head of the "fear of the beast" image have fewer features than the whole body, which is not conducive to distinction and identification. Therefore, the author uses some picture data to analyze.
Full body image
Judging from the information collected by the author so far, the image of "fearing the beast" from the Two Han Dynasties to the Wei and Jin Dynasties is mostly the whole body. On the portrait stone in the portrait stone tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Linyi, south and north villages, there is not only a full-body image of "fearing the beast", but also a large number of "fearing the beast" head.
The full body image of the "feared beast" in the front file of the Northern Wei Yuanmian sarcophagus in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, USA (rubbing quotes "Gua Jia", No. 5, page 367)
The full body image of the "fear of the beast" in the mural on the west wall of the tomb road of the Zhangbei Dynasty mural in Cixian County, Hebei Province
Northern Zhou Mogao Caves Cave 297 West Wall "Fear of The Beast" full-body image sculpture
The ninth cave of the North Xiangtang Mountain Grottoes - the full body image of the "feared beast" in the Big Buddha Cave
Northern Qi amber "fear of the beast" full body image ornament
Bust image
The bust of the "fear of the beast" on the front file of the sarcophagus of Wang Hui of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Lushan County, Sichuan
The northern dynasty copper gilded "fear of the beast" bust image auxiliary head
The bust of the "feared beast" is mainly the head and arm parts, and the "hair" on the arm; the characteristics of the three fingers of the claw are consistent with the "fear of the beast" of the whole body image. Especially during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of such "fearful beasts" busts appeared.
The tomb of Xu Xianxiu of Northern Qi unearthed a stone carving of the "fear of the beast" half-body image lintel
The Datong Northern Dynasty Art Museum hides the bust of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Dynasty sarcophagus
The Datong Northern Dynasty Art Museum hides the bust of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Dynasty sarcophagus
The Datong Northern Dynasty Art Museum hides the bust of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Dynasty sarcophagus
The Datong Northern Dynasty Art Museum hides the bust of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Dynasty sarcophagus
Datong City Museum collects the Northern Wei "fear of the beast" bust image Wadang
The bust of the "feared beast" on the bed of the northern sarcophagus
Shaanxi Forest of Steles Museum Collection: Tang Dynasty Li Shou tomb lintel on the lintel of the "fear of the beast" bust image
In the Jin Dynasty, the "fear of the beast" half-body tattooed Jin Heng
In addition, there are some simplified busts, and these simplified "fearful beast" busts only have the head and hands (claws), without the "hairs" on the arms and their arms. If the hands (claws) are removed by simplification, then the head image of the "feared beast" becomes. This is an evolutionary process from the whole body to the half body, to the simplified half body, and then to the head image.
There are many such materials, why can the author determine that these are the busts of the "fear of the beast" image? The author mainly confirms it based on the relevant cultural relics of the whole body image of the "fear of the beast" in the same period.
Take the sarcophagus bed of the Northern Dynasty period as an example, as follows:
The bust of the "fearful beast" usually appears in the middle of the sarcophagus bed, with a positive face image. The whole body image of the "fear of the beast" on the left and right is basically facing the middle. In addition, comparing their head detail characteristics, it can be affirmed that they are all "fearful of beasts", just the shaping of different shapes.
The main characteristics of the "fear of beasts" during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period: the head of the beast, the muscles are strong, the eyes are round and open, the nose is wide, the teeth are exposed, some have double horns on the head, and there are two straight hairs on the back of the head. The upper body is exposed, the umbilical breast is exposed, and the color of the abdomen and back is different. Wear a shoulder pad on both shoulders, and there are 3-5 pairs of thick and thin streamers on the shoulder pads, and the streamers fly up, down and backward with the posture of the arms. Individual strands have a tail behind them, or two or three long hairs. He wears over-the-knee shorts with black and white checks at the waistband, and the legs are laceed and tied with a long stripe. Two toes and three claws, mostly in the shape of galloping.
Then use the "fear of the beast" bust image and the full body image to compare the detailed features (above). In the "fear of the beast" bust image, the "three claws" in its main features are the most obvious, and then the head features are basically the same as the full body image. Therefore, from many aspects, the author believes that this is the bust image of "fearing the beast".
Head image
Among the picture materials quoted above, there is the full body image of "fearing the beast" on the front file of the Northern Wei Yuanmian sarcophagus of the Minneapolis Museum of Art in the United States (rubbing), the half-body image of the "fear of the beast" on the front block of the sarcophagus of Wang Hui of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Lushan County, Sichuan, the stone carving of the "fear of the beast" bust image excavated from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu of Northern Qi, and the half-body image of the "fear of the beast" on the lintel of the tomb of Li Shou of the Tang Dynasty, which uses the "fear of the beast" head image on the lintel of the tomb of Wang LouRui of Dong'an in Northern Qi. The full body, half, and head of these "fearful beasts" appear on the upper part of the sarcophagus lintel. By linking these materials, it can be seen that they are all in the same vein. It is only expressed with the different physical characteristics of "fear of the beast".
The head image of the "feared beast" on the lintel of the tomb of Lou Rui, king of Dong'an, Northern Qi, was unearthed
Judging from the excavated cultural relics, the image of the head of the "feared beast" is mainly divided into three types, one is the image of the head of the "feared beast", the other is the image of the head of the "feared beast", and the other is the auxiliary head image of the "fearful beast".
First, look at the shape of the head of the "fearful beast". The main difference from the bust is that there are no claws and the "hair" on the shoulders and shoulders, only the head remains (see picture above).
Datong Northern Dynasty Art Museum Collection: The head image of the "feared beast" on the lintel of the Northern Wei Dynasty
The Shanxi Provincial Museum hides the image of the head of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Wei sarcophagus
The head image of the "feared beast" on the Zhao Zhou Bridge in Zhao County (ancient name Zhao Prefecture) in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province
Built from the 14th year of the sui dynasty to the second year of the Sui Dynasty (i.e. 594~606 AD)
In the Tang Dynasty, the Tubo period was embedded with turquoise animal face swan pattern ornament plate on the "fear of the beast" head image
Al-Thani, the Middle Eastern Qatari royal family
The image of the head (auxiliary head) of the "fear of the beast"
The porcelain of the Southern and Northern Dynasties often sees the image of "fear of the beast", most of which is the plastic molding of the head image of the "fear of the beast", some of which are the full body image of the "fear of the beast", and there is also a mixture of the full body image of the "fear of the beast" and the image of the head (auxiliary head).
Collection of the Nelson Atkins Museum, USA
The full body image of the "fear of the beast" on the Northern Qi blue glazed clay pot
Collection of Nanjing Six Dynasties Museum
The full body image of the "fear of the beast" on the celadon lotus statue excavated from the Lingshan Liang Dynasty Tomb outside the Qilin Gate in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Hebei Provincial Museum Collection: The whole body image of the "feared beast" on the Northern Dynasty blue glaze overlaid lotus statue is mixed with the head image
Collection of Shanxi Provincial Museum: The image of the auxiliary head of the "fear of the beast" on the yellow-green glazed porcelain statue excavated from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu in Northern Qi
2015 London Sotheby's Sui Dynasty brown glazed appliqué overlaid lotus flower figure on the top of the "fear of the beast" full body and auxiliary head image of the mixed use
In 2015, Sotheby's London's Sui Dynasty brown glazed appliqué covered the full body image of the "fear of the beast" on the lotus statue
In 2015, Sotheby's London's Sui Dynasty brown glazed appliqué covered the image of the "fear of the beast" on the lotus statue
The image of the "fear of the beast" on the front block of the sarcophagus of Wang Hui of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Lushan County, Sichuan
The Shanxi Provincial Museum hides the image of the head of the "feared beast" on the bed of the Northern Wei sarcophagus
(There is a character decoration between the two corners of the head)
Datong City Museum hides the Northern Wei copper gilded "fear of the beast" head image auxiliary head
(There is a character decoration between the two corners of the head)
Datong Archaeological Research Institute Collection: Copper "fear of the beast" full body auxiliary head image
(The character decoration in the middle of the auxiliary head above is similar to the shape of the "fear of the beast" image on this auxiliary head)
The image of the "fear of the beast" half-body auxiliary head on the front block of the sarcophagus of Wang Hui of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Lushan County, Sichuan, and the auxiliary image of the copper "fear of the beast" full body of the Datong Archaeological Research Institute. From the perspective of these cultural relics, these copper auxiliary heads in the Northern Dynasty period, from the analysis of the plastic source of the image, the shape of these auxiliary heads and the auxiliary heads of the Warring Han Period are still very different in shape, combined with the background of the era of a large number of popular "fear of beasts" in the Northern Dynasty, and there are also other cultural relics of the full body and bust image of the auxiliary heads of "fear of beasts". The author believes that these auxiliary heads, which were widely used during the Northern Dynasty, should all belong to the head image of the "fear of the beast".
The head of the "fearful beast" wins the image
(i.e. the artistic combination between "Fear of the Beast", "Katsura", "Queen Mother of the West", and "Buddhist Bodhisattva")
Northern Qi Xu Xianxiu tomb excavated on the lintel of the "fear of the beast" to win the bust image (red label inside the double victory)
Nanyang Deng County Southern Dynasty portrait brick tomb lintel on the "fear of the beast" head image painting
The "fear of the beast" excavated from the Tomb of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Jiangning, Nanjing, won the head image of Jin Heng
Both the Southern and Northern Dynasties have the image of "fearing the beast" and winning, and the combination of the image of "fearing the beast" and the "victory" is more obvious in the Northern Dynasty region.
In the murals excavated from the mural tombs of Jiuyuangang in Eastern Wei and Lourui in Northern Qi, Shanxi, the god of thunder appears in the form of "fearing the beast" and is separated by "victory-shaped ornaments" in the thunder drum (figure 1-2 above).
In the murals of the same theme in the Western Wei period of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, all the thunder gods who appear in the image of "fearing beasts" have no "victory ornaments" in the middle of their thunder drums (Figure 3-5 above).
Moreover, the same theme on the Eastern Han Portrait Stone earlier is not available, which can refer to the "fear of the beast" image of the Thunder God in the Eastern Han Portrait Stone Tomb of Wubaizhuang in Linyi, Shandong (Figure 6-7 above).
At the same time, in the mural excavated from the southern dynasty portrait brick tomb in Deng County, Henan, there is a combination of the image of "fearing the beast and winning the victory", and there is also a "flying sky" image on the left and right sides of the mural (figure 8 above). This combination of "fearing the beast and winning" also appears on the golden skull excavated from the Tomb of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Nanjing's Jiangning District (photo 9 above). We can refer to (Figure 10 above) the image of "Dai Sheng" on the head of the Western Queen Mother on the Eastern Han Dynasty portrait stone to determine that the image of "fearing the beast and winning" is a combination of "fearing the beast" and "winning".
Images from traditional Central Plains religious beliefs such as "Queen Mother of the West" and "Fear of The Beast" appear in the murals of the Mogao Caves during the Western Wei Dynasty and blend with Buddhism. In fact, this fusion has taken shape on the cash cow of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Sichuan (figure 11 above).
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Northern Wei Bronze Gilded Maitreya Buddha
Shaanxi Forest of Steles Museum Collection: The whole body image of the "fear of the beast" under the stone sculpture of maitreya Buddha in the Northern Wei Dynasty
From the above cultural relics, it can be seen that the full body image of "fearing the beast" has begun to integrate into Buddhism during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the bust image of "fearing the beast" has appeared in the Buddhist art of the Eastern Wei. In the Northern Qi dynasty, it gradually evolved into the head image of the "fear of the beast" and the fusion of the beaded ornaments on the bodhisattva.
Hebei Cixian Northern Dynasty Museum Collection: A group of amber "fearful beast" jade group pendants excavated from the tomb of Zhou Chao in Northern Qi
The simplified image of the head of the "fearful beast" and the combination of various beads to form the bodhisattva body mainly appeared in the Northern Qi period. At the same time, in the tombs of the high nobles of Northern Qi, it is often excavated that the amber "fear of the beast" is centered on the group pei , and combined with agate, crystal, glass , etc. (above). This combined ornament with the image of amber "fearing the beast" was mainly excavated from the tombs of high-ranking nobles in Northern Qi, which can be seen that this ornament was a symbol of the status of high-level nobles in the Northern Qi period. At the same time, it can also be seen that the traditional Chinese jade group pei changed in the Northern Qi period.
The "sheng-shaped ornaments" that appear on the Northern Qi Bodhisattva Yongluo first appeared in the Central Plains in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty. From the late Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was mainly combined with the "West Queen Mother" or appeared alone, and the image of "West Queen Mother Dai Sheng" appeared in a large number of portrait stones of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Shandong. With the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the worship of the "Queen Mother of the West" also gradually declined. At this time, Buddhism flourished, and the once popular "katsura ornaments" in Shandong began to merge with Buddhist art. This fusion is currently only found in the Qingzhou region of Shandong in Northern Qi.
Qingzhou Museum Collection: "Sheng-shaped Ornaments" in the Bodhisattvas of the Northern Qi Dynasty
Qingzhou Museum Collection: The head image of the "fear of the beast" on the bodhisattva of the Northern Qi period
The author believes that all these examples can fully prove that the appearance of the head image of the "fear of the beast" and the "victory-shaped ornament" on the Bodhisattva Of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in the Qingzhou region is one of the characteristics of the localization and Sinicization of Buddhism in the Qingzhou region. It is the fusion of eastern and western religions, arts and cultures, in local areas. That is to say, as long as you see the tattoos on the bodhisattva's body, there is a "fear of the beast" head image, or a "victory-shaped ornament". Then, it can be basically determined that this statue of the bodhisattva is from the Qingzhou area during the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties.
The above are the author's personal views, do not mean that they are absolutely correct, for reference only.
This article has been published by the author with the authorization of the music club, and the graphics and text are provided by the author