Chapter 1895: The roots are strong and the branches are strong, everlasting
Approaching the guild hall, the first thing Chen Wenzhe saw was a wood carving mural of a monkey riding a deer. At first glance, he really didn't know what it meant.
In fact, this is also very simple, whether it is a picture on porcelain, a brick carving, or a wood carving.
Generally, the meanings of pictures are homophonic.
Like the monkey riding a deer here, you can see it clearly.
It should be a male monkey. Monkey and Hou are homophones, and it has the dual meaning of Duke (high official) and congratulations.
Riding a deer, getting a good salary, all the people in the family are high-ranking officials and well-paid people."
This kind of image usually sits on bricks. Chen Wenzhe knew of an ancient brick carving called "Monkey and Deer".
In ancient times, there were brick carvings in the "front hall" of traditional ancient houses. We often see this "Monkey and Deer Picture", but now there are not many left.
A monkey leaned out from the branch of a peach tree, holding a twig in his hand to poke a hornet's nest. A magpie flew over and chirped, "My lady is happy."
There was a sika deer lying under the tree, humming low.
These all represent some beautiful meanings, and they are very interesting to know.
Chen Wenzhe saw too many wood carvings in front of him, including the brackets, the sparrows at the gate and the forehead fang. The pattern should be the birthday of the Eight Immortals. The position should be the most important.
There are also horses with their legs in the air. The person on the horse looks like an official, and the person behind looks like a peasant woman, enjoying themselves happily.
Entering the hall, Chen Wenzhe was immediately attracted by the exquisite wood carvings on the theater floor.
It is said that the essence of this group of ancient buildings is the wood carvings decorated on the frame of the house.
Almost all the building components on each floor, especially the wooden trusses, beams, brackets, finials, baffles and vertical columns under the eaves, are decorated with wood carvings.
There are all kinds of characters, animals, flowers, trees, pavilions, pavilions, folklore stories, etc.
All wood carvings use relief, openwork and other carving techniques, and their representations can be divided into three categories: characters, animals and flowers.
Among the figures are the Eight Immortals, carved on the east side of the dance building, with the West Bird standing on top, each holding a treasure and standing in the auspicious clouds;
There is a god in golden armor, carved on the forehead beam in the bright room of the main hall. The god is wearing golden armor, with one hand raised high and the other hand on the hip, looking majestic;
On the square gate in the east room of the main hall, there is a very exquisite picture of returning home in rich clothes.
The old man looked happy and was riding on a horse. Behind the horse was a book boy carrying a flower branch on his shoulder.
On the forehead square in the west room of the main hall, there is a picture of "Peaceful Farming" carved on it.
This picture carves different scenes into square inches, including a farmer holding a plow handle, a cow drinking water, and a fisherman wearing a straw hat, just like a pastoral style painting with a strong sense of life.
Among animals, dragons have the most wood carvings, especially in large frames.
The dragon carved on the bird stand in the east room of the main hall is the most typical. The dragon grasps lotus leaves in its claws and holds the lotus leaves in its mouth, as if it is savoring it carefully. The entire carving is lifelike.
Next is the phoenix. These phoenixes have different shapes and stand among the auspicious clouds, giving people a sense of solemnity and peace.
Kirin carvings are also commonly used in the decoration of wooden structure frames. It is said that Kirin is a virtuous and benevolent animal and a symbol of good luck and wishful thinking.
The shape of the unicorn is rather peculiar, with a single horn, a lin body, horse hooves and an ox tail, which is unique.
In addition, there are also sculptures such as lions, Suan Ni, horses, sheep, deer, long-tailed chickens, cranes, etc.
The carvings of these spiritual birds and auspicious animals adopt the technique of multi-layered openwork carving, and also use exaggeration and other techniques to make them vivid.
Many spiritual birds and auspicious animals in folklore are applied to the structural framework of ancient buildings.
On the one hand, it decorates these classical buildings, and on the other hand, it also plays a role in strengthening and fixing the wooden frame.
Other than these, it’s just flowers.
Among flowers, peonies have the most patterns, and there are wood carvings with peonies as themes in many parts of the main hall, apse, and dance floor.
Peony flowers are huge, graceful and luxurious, and have always been a symbol of peace and wealth in the minds of ancient people.
Used in the carvings of ancient buildings, it looks magnificent.
Grapes are carved in the apse, with a smart little squirrel next to it.
This combination of grapes and squirrels, which are called fruitful among the people, forms an auspicious picture.
There are many sculptures with flowers as the theme in the Luze Guild Hall, such as the lotus with the meaning of "the roots are solid and the branches are flourishing".
There are also flat peaches with the meaning of "Ma Gu offers longevity", plum blossoms with the name of gentleman, pine trees with the name of "everlasting green", etc., all of which have high carving techniques.
These are wood carvings, and an ancient building must be made of wood and stone, so naturally there will be no shortage of stone carvings.
Therefore, in addition to wood carvings, the stone carving art in the guild hall is also very unique.
Especially the carvings on the pillar foundation stones of the main hall are vivid, exquisite and rich.
Column foundation is a luxurious and beautiful stone component placed under wooden columns in ancient buildings in order to increase the pressure-bearing surface under the columns and provide moisture-proof protection.
This is the most decorated part of ancient buildings.
Column foundation stone is a kind of building stone component in my country, commonly known as stone plate or column foundation.
It is the foundation stone placed under the pillar, which is the foundation stone that withstands the pressure of the roof pillar.
It is used for load-bearing and moisture-proofing in traditional brick and wood structure buildings, and plays an irreplaceable role in preventing building collapse. It has a history of more than 5,000 years.
The stone pillar foundations of the Luze Guild Hall are in various forms and vividly carved, mainly featuring rare birds, auspicious animals, flowers, auspicious grasses and geometric patterns. There are 142 of them in existence.
The three sets of stone pillar foundations of the dance building are very vivid. They include a golden-eyed beast carrying a lotus, a lion carrying a lotus, and a unicorn carrying a lotus.
The bodies of the three beasts are all square cylinders, with auspicious clouds painted on the upper parts of the cylinders.
A huge eight-petal upward lotus stands out on the cloud pattern, and the lotus throne supports huge pillars.
Line engraving techniques are used outside each petal to draw a blooming lotus.
In front of the square cylinder are carved the heads, chests and front legs of three beasts.
Behind the square cylinder are carved the buttocks, tail and hind legs of three animals.
The three beasts stand upright on the ground with their limbs, their expressions are calm and steady.
These three sets of pillar foundations fully reflect the superhuman imagination and superb skills of folk artists.
The most typical and perfect stone pillars are found in the main hall.
The six stone pillar foundations on the front eaves are particularly distinctive. The patterns of the six stone pillar foundations are composed of three layers.
The upper layer is a pan-drum with two dragons. The two dragons are connected head to tail to form a circle. The whole is made of openwork and relief.
The middle layer is an openwork carving of six beasts, which are legendary auspicious beasts.
It is composed of six animals: young elephant, young sheep, deer, lion, tiger and suanni.
Some of them get in and some get out, and they look very cute.
The lower layer is decorated with twelve lotus petals, with swallows, dragonflies, bats and butterflies carved in shallow relief inside each petal.
In addition, there are four stone pillars on the east and west sides of the main hall, all composed of three layers of stone carvings.
The upper layer is carved with lotus, pomegranate, bamboo, orchid, plum blossom and chrysanthemum in shallow relief.
Plum blossoms represent bravery against severe cold, orchids represent cleanliness and elegance, bamboo represents noble integrity, chrysanthemums represent pride, pomegranates represent fertility and blessings, and lotus represents nobility that is untainted by mud.
The middle layer of the waistband is carved with spiritual birds and animals, including cranes, mandarin ducks, cattle, turtles, monkeys, quails and carps.
Cranes represent longevity, mandarin ducks represent harmony between husband and wife, turtles represent longevity, and quails mean peace.