Qilu culture, cultural relics and Han stone reliefs
Han stone reliefs are decorative stone carvings of ancestral halls or tombs in the Han Dynasty. Stone relief art began in the Western Han Dynasty and prevailed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is characterized by national patterns, changeable composition, simple and vivid shapes and lines, which reflects the level of painting and carving art in the Han Dynasty. At present, Shandong is the first province with the most Han stone reliefs found in China, and there are also many discoveries in Sichuan, Henan and other provinces.
in the Han dynasty, Confucianism prevailed, and the Confucian "filial piety" had a great influence, so the wind of thick burial prevailed, followed by advocating the decoration of tombs and ancestral temples, so stone portrait carving appeared and prevailed when building tombs. Stone reliefs of Han Dynasty are widely distributed in Shandong, but they are concentrated in southern Shandong and central Shandong. According to incomplete statistics, Han stone reliefs have been found in more than 6 counties and cities in the province, such as Yishui, Changqing, Jinxiang, Jining, Qufu, Yutai, Feixian, Feicheng, Jiaxiang, Yinan, Anqiu and Wenshang, among which the stone carvings of Wuxi Temple in Jiaxiang, the portrait of Xiaotangshan in Changqing and the tomb of Yinan stone reliefs are the most famous, which are typical groups of Han stone reliefs. These works are generally large in number, beautifully carved and rich in content, which are of great value to the study of politics, economy, culture and social customs in the Han Dynasty, as well as architecture, painting, calligraphy and sculpture in the Han Dynasty.
The Wushi Temple in Jiaxiang, commonly known as Wuliang Temple, is actually a stone shrine in memory of Wuliang and his younger brother Wu Kaiming and his enlightened sons Wu Ban and Wu Rong. It is located at the northern foot of Wudai Mountain, 15 kilometers south of Jiaxiang County.
Wushi Temple was built in the first year of Emperor Huan's founding (147). According to the inscription on the stone que in the shrine, after the death of Wu Shi, an official and Wu Liang in Jiaxiang at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, their descendants built a ancestral temple in front of the tomb, which took decades to complete. The original temple is divided into four rooms, the former is Wurong Temple, the latter is Wu Kaiming Temple, the middle is Wuliang Temple, and the left is Wuban Temple. There are stone carvings such as stone que, stone lion, tombstone and portrait in the temple. Later, due to the flood of the Yellow River, the stone chamber was buried by silt. In the fifty-first year of Qianlong reign in Qing Dynasty (1786), Huang Yi, a colleague of Jin Shijia's Jining House Canal, went to Jiaxiang to investigate and excavate, and found more than 2 portrait stone carvings. The following year, Jin Shijia Weng Fanggang donated money to build a house to protect the portrait stone carvings. Later, stone reliefs were discovered one after another. Now, apart from two pieces scattered abroad and two pieces transported to Jining for preservation, there are still 43 Han stone reliefs, another pair of stone que and stone lion, and two stone tablets.
Most of the stone carvings in Wushi Temple are carved in relief, with fine carving, extensive materials and vivid shapes. Its content is mostly various stories, such as historical stories, historical figures, filial piety stories, stories of women, myths and legends; In addition, there are images of horses and chariots traveling, feasting, dancing, cooking, land and water attack, auspicious and auspicious disasters. It reflects the social conditions, customs, laws and regulations and religious beliefs in the Eastern Han Dynasty from different aspects.
xiaotang stone shrine is located on xiaotang mountain in the south of xiaolipu, Changqing county. Xiaotang Stone Temple is the earliest stone building in front of the tomb on the existing ground in China, which was built in the first century in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. According to Shui Jing Zhu, Xiaotang Mountain was originally named Wushan, and the stone room on the mountain was called Xiaozitang. The ancient tomb on the mountain was passed down as the tomb of Guo Ju, the dutiful son. The filial son Guo's Stone Temple, Xiaolipu and Xiaotangshan are all named after this.
The Stone Temple in Xiaotang is all made of stone, facing south, with a horizontal rectangle, nearly four meters long and more than two meters wide. The upper wall of the East and West Hills is a triangular stone, and the back wall is a rectangular stone. Three octagonal stone pillars are erected in front, and stone strips are erected under the eaves at both ends. A triangular stone partition beam is placed between the largest octagonal column in the middle and the back wall to divide the stone temple into two rooms. The single-eave rolling-shed roof, with sloping stone weights on both sides, is carved with ridge, ridge, ditch head, eaves and other shapes. The various components and structural characteristics of the stone temple architecture show that many later architectural techniques and forms have been formed as early as the Han Dynasty.
as important as its architectural form is the stone portrait. The north wall, gables on both sides and triangular stone partition beams of the stone shrine are covered with finely carved portraits of the Han Dynasty. These portraits are also very rich in content, including Fuxi, Nu Wa, Queen Mother of the West and other legendary figures. There are historical stories such as Zhou Gongfu becoming a king; There are palace life such as the king's car riding, the house of worshipping the temple and the princes receiving gifts; There are scenes of Hu Han's army fighting, fierce fighting and greeting the DPRK; There are also cooking activities such as hunting, slaughtering cattle, slaughtering sheep, killing chickens and cooking, as well as hundreds of scenes such as pole climbing, pill jumping, dancing and playing music. The way of carving portraits here is different from that of Jiaxiang Wushi Temple, which is to carve lines in the ground or lines in the plane with concave outlines. The portrait of the whole stone temple is accurately and vividly depicted, with strong lines. In addition, the octagonal column bucket, gables, tiles and stone platforms of the stone temple are also engraved with simple geometric decorative patterns such as hanging patterns and rhombic patterns.
The stone tomb of Han Dynasty in Yinan is located in Beizhai Village, northwest of the county seat, and it was excavated in March 1954. The tomb was built about 193 years before the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it was divided into eight rooms. In addition to the front, middle and back main rooms, there were five side rooms in the east, three in the west and two in the east. The whole layout is very balanced and runs through a central axis. The tomb was built with 28 stones, including 42 stones with 73 portraits, with a total area of 442.27 square meters. These paintings can be roughly divided into several groups. Some people think that these paintings reflect the deeds of the tomb owner before and after his death, such as fighting against foreigners before his death; Many people come to sacrifice after death; Show the identity of the tomb owner before his death and his rich and enjoyable life; Reflect the life of the tomb owner and his wife in the boudoir before their death, etc. These paintings seem to be scattered, but they are actually an internally related whole.
There are two carving techniques for Yi 'nan portrait: Yin and Yang, that is, the outline of the painting is carved from the plane first, then the lines are carved in the outline, and then the unnecessary ones around it are removed. This kind of bas-relief method is used the most. It is more complicated and skilled than Wushi Temple, and its carving is exquisite and lively. It marks the progress of carving technology and represents the higher achievements of painting and carving art at that time.