Gansu Dunhuang Buddha Temple Bay Wei Jin tomb painted bricks
Ma Jianhua
Since the late Western Han Dynasty in China, the custom of decorating burial chambers with paintings has appeared in large tombs everywhere. After the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with the prevalence of the thick burial of the Haozong clan, the bereaved family was widely gifted, and guests had to enter the tomb, and the murals in the tomb competed for Huaguan. After Cao Wei, he advocated frugal burial, and under the direct control of the central government, the style of thick burial in the Central Plains was somewhat reduced. Although the Hexi area is also forbidden, the mountain heights are far away and the whip is long, so a unique painted brick tomb has been formed in the Hexi area.
The Wei and Jin dynasties were the heyday of political and economic development in the Dunhuang region of ancient Gansu, and also the peak of the development of painted brick art in this area. A large number of painted bricks are vivid and exquisite, enriching the ancient Chinese art of painting.
The painted bricks unearthed from Dunhuang Buddha Temple Bay are a marvelous branch of the ancient painting art in Hexi, Gansu. The walls of the tomb are decorated with elaborate painted brick carvings of pillars and bucket arches. The main body of the illuminated wall is masonry using the flat and hard staggering method, and there are exquisite portraits painted on the brick surface. The content of the painting is mainly based on rare birds and beasts such as flying tigers, pisces, white elephants, phoenix birds, sacred deer, winged gods and horses, etc., and ancient myths and legends such as Tuoshan Lux, Li Guangzhaohu, and Bo Ya Tingqin. The picture is colorful and colorful. The painted bricks inside the tomb are scattered in small pieces at the junction of the tomb wall and the dome of the tomb. It depicts houses and ox carts, chickens, grain tests and mother-child play
Wait for scenes of the life of the tomb owner. The picture is full of life, natural and peaceful. Above the four walls of the main burial chamber of some tombs is a picture of a beast lying on the sheep. There are also tombs with symmetrical and colorful lotus algae wells painted in the middle of the top of the main chamber.
The painting method of Dunhuang painted bricks can be divided into two major types. One is to paint a white substrate on the brick surface, outline the outline with lines, and then fill in the colors to support the charm of the picture. Another method is to draw directly with ink lines on the bare brick surface, the lines are smooth and stretched, and the picture is vivid and natural and dynamic.
The painting content of Dunhuang painted bricks expresses both human spiritual life and real life. Most of the painted bricks depict rare birds and beasts, ancient myths and legends, expressing the yearning for the fairy fantasy. Some of the painted bricks in the tomb depict people's daily lives, calm, harmonious and full of happiness. This reflects the ability of ancient painters in Dunhuang to grasp and control various subjects, as well as mature painting experience and skills. It is these folk painters who have created the traditional Chinese art of painting.
Eating (31.5×16cm)
Hunting
Mother and child frolic
oxcart
Grain picking
Excerpt from "Essence of Ancient Chinese Mural Painting Series Painted Bricks of Wei Jin Tomb in Dunhuang, Gansu Province"
Chongqing Publishing House, July 2000
Further reading:
Pastoral Portrait Brick 40720 (Replica)
Wei Jin (220–420 CE)
Length 34.5cm, width 17cm, thickness 5cm
Collection of Gansu Provincial Museum
The brick is surrounded by a red border, a man grazing on the far right, and a Zhushu "Herding Animals" in the lower right corner. Some scholars have classified the Hexi Corridor area as the "Great Wall Zone of the North", which is the "agricultural and pastoral staggered belt" from the perspective of cultural geography, that is, the interaction and continuous development of agriculture and animal husbandry in this area. The many pastoral and agricultural theme portrait bricks unearthed in Hexi during the Wei and Jin dynasties are the embodiment of the characteristics of this area.
Wood fort shooting bird portrait brick 2036
Length 42.5cm, width 21cm, thickness 6.5cm
In 2001, Tomb No. 1 of Kushuikou in Gaotai County, Gansu Province was excavated
Collection of Gaotai County Museum
The left side of the brick depicts a dock fort with a door in the middle of the dock and a battlement on the wall. Outside the dock fort is a tall tree with two blackbirds on the branches, and a man under the tree is shooting birds with a bow.
Shooting birds is an important subject inherited from the portraits of the Han Dynasty, and scholars' views on this subject are mainly divided into archery and sacrifice, in addition to birds driving, obtaining birds, and ceremonial birds shooting. The brick was originally located between mulberry picking and cattle farming, both mulberry and cattle farming are important agricultural activities in spring, according to the "Four People's Month Order", Qingming "rule the jam room", Gu Yu "silkworm lifelong" women and children need to "be diligent". In the spring, the ground should be cultivated, and the bird shooting figure sandwiched in it is either to drive away the birds in the mulberry tree, or to open the spring air and the ceremonial bird shooting behavior of all things.
Tsai Sang Portrait Brick 2038
Length 42cm, width 21cm, thickness 7cm
In 2001, tomb No. 1 of Kushuikou in Luotuocheng, Gaotai County, Gansu Province, was excavated
In the center of the brick is a tall mulberry tree, under which a woman is picking mulberry. The woman on the left holds a mulberry cage in one hand and picks mulberry in the other, and the woman on the right holds a mulberry cage in one hand and a mulberry hook in the other.
"Qiang Girl Send-off" portrait brick 3013
Length 34.5cm, width 16.7cm, height 5cm
In 1993, six groups of tombs in Xigou Village, Orchard, were excavated
Collection of Suzhou District Museum of Jiuquan City
The brick depicts a man riding on a white-flowered horse looking back, and a woman with a sad face and a gesture of snuggling. Women with long hair shawls, wearing round necks and shallow fur, long skirts attacking the ground, carrying a satchel to stand and send off, some scholars believe that this is the image of Qiang women, is the embodiment of ethnic integration and intermarriage in Hexi region.
Cut cloth portrait brick 2077
Length 43cm, width 20.5cm, thickness 6cm
The brick is painted on a chalky base and the eaves are painted above the brick surface, depicting two women holding a cloth together to prepare to be cut. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the money system was chaotic, and the numismatic standards were not as stable as the price of silk, and silk gradually gained monetary status, and the historical materials of this period involved the multi-purpose unit of price. Before liangzhou, the Hexi region mostly used silk instead of money, and the portrait bricks cut cloth or used for clothing, or in the form of images, the scene of Suo Fu's "splitting the horse and thinking of the number of segments" in the "Jinshu Zhang Rail Biography" was expressed. The brick plains are located on the middle floor of the south wall of the tomb chamber.
Oxcart Travel Portrait Brick (Replica) 2032
Length 43 cm, width 20 cm, thickness 6.5 cm
The brick depicts a man driving an ox cart forward, followed by a maid with a tray and a flat pot in her hand. The brick plains are located on the middle floor of the west wall of the antechamber of the tomb.
Kitchen portrait tiles
Tomb No. 1 of Wei Jin, a new city in Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province, was excavated
Collection of Jiayuguan Great Wall Museum
The bricks are surrounded by a red border, and on the right side there is a painting of a man cutting meat on the case, behind him are two plates of cut meat pieces, and on the left is a woman cooking, and there is meat hanging above.
Lady unboxed portrait tiles
Tomb No. 1 of Kushuikou, Luotuocheng, Gaotai County, Gansu Province, was excavated
The picture is based on white, depicting a woman picking up clothes out of a box. Women wear high buns, wear noodles, clear facial makeup, and beautifully dressed. The character opens the lid with one hand and probes in and out with the other, which is very lifelike.