Terracotta warriors and horses have extraordinary realistic artistic style. Life-size terracotta figures and horses are arranged in an orderly way, neatly like a huge underground military system, which is magnificent and shocking. From a local point of view, each figurine has been carefully carved to be realistic. For example, the armor and costumes of Qin terracotta warriors are the same as those of real terracotta warriors, especially the size and overlapping direction of armor and armor pieces are exactly the same, and there is no difference.
But it is different from western realistic works, with certain subjectivity and freehand brushwork. For example, some beards of Qin Terracotta Warriors fly up, tilt up and roll up, which is obviously an exaggerated means. Another example is hair, many of which are shaved with tools, but there are also many sticky, wavy and strong textures. This is freehand brushwork.
Technically, Qin Terracotta Warriors broke through the pattern of one thousand people and reached the realm of their own gods. The craftsman first made a shape out of mud, and then erected the body with his hands. The heads of terracotta figures are roughly outlined by means of molds, and then carefully carved. Someone spent three months shooting the terracotta warriors, but after three months, they didn't find the same terracotta warriors. The head is shaped according to a certain shape, but the changes of hairstyle, facial features and muscles have been carefully carved.
From the face, the faces of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are "eye", "spirit", "a" and "courage". All the people gathered together and became a spectacular sight. Even now, the faces of more than one billion people in China can basically be found in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, in which the image of the Chinese nation is fully displayed and has a strong artistic appeal.
These pottery horses have been buried in the dark underground for more than 20 centuries. After unearthed, it still maintains the characteristics of pure color, high density and high hardness. They have reached the state of "perfection" by slapping with their hands. After more than ten years' efforts, contemporary potters can only imitate some simple potters. They tried to copy Ma Tao, but failed in repeated experiments. The outstanding clay sculpture and pottery-making technology in Qin Dynasty amazed future generations. However, its technology and formula have been lost and become a mystery.
Born Qin Jun array
Terracotta Warriors and Horses are a treasure house of Qin Jun's military knowledge, which should be reflected in many aspects. What was the military battlefield like in the Qin Dynasty? What are cavalry like? What are infantry like? The past understanding is rather vague. Terracotta warriors and horses are like living soldiers. In the past, some movies and TV series that didn't know much about Qin Jun rode a tall horse with a high saddle, which looked mighty and galloped with stirrups. But there was no stirrup in the Qin dynasty, it was a stilt saddle. The stilt saddle only developed in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was basically shaped in Sui and Tang Dynasties.
There are official figures of different ranks and ordinary soldiers. What's their difference? Whether it's armor or crown. The armor of the senior officer figurines is very small and the pattern is very beautiful. Middle-level officers also have patterns on their breastplates, but they are different in nature from the statuettes of senior officers. Its crown, called long crown, has a bar in the middle. The armor of junior officers has no pattern, and the crown they wear is similar to that of middle officers, but there is no lever in the middle. The average soldier has no pattern on his armor and no crown on his head.
Another example is the establishment of the army. In books and novels, there are many names about the army, such as Fengzhen, Leizhen and Bagua. It makes you wonder what's going on. In fact, it is nothing more than a square, a circle, a curve, a straight line and a cone. The array of Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit No.1 is a square array, neatly arranged, as square as a rope, just like a rope.
Pit 2 of Terracotta Warriors is more complicated, with many arms and postures, including kneeling posture and vertical portrait. There are no cavalry in the first pit of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, but there are cavalry formations in the second pit of Terracotta Warriors and Horses. This is the essence of the pit and it is worth seeing. The arrangement of terracotta warriors and horses vividly shows the distribution of the left, middle and right armed forces in Qin Jun, and also enables us to have a deeper understanding of the battle formation in combat; There are 1300 terracotta warriors and horses, more than 80 chariots and tens of thousands of bronze weapons in the No.2 pit. With so much archaeological data, the problem of coordination between different arms and different equipment in Qin Jun's operations has been successfully solved.
Stone Carving of Huo Qubing's Tomb: In BC 1 17, Huo Qubing died at the age of 24. In order to commemorate this famous soldier, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty specially gave him a burial place in Maoling, and built a magnificent mountain tomb in the east of Maoling to symbolize the environment of Qilian Mountain War. There are 16 stone carvings around the tomb, such as stepping on Xiongnu, prancing horse and khufu. Most of the stone carvings are made of hard granite, and the sculpture style is simple and natural, with great verve and commemorative significance. It is a masterpiece of large stone carvings in the Western Han Dynasty.
Horse stepping on Xiongnu (height 168cm, length 190 1cm, granite) is the main part of the group sculpture, which has always been recognized as the masterpiece of the stone carving group of Huo Tomb. The work shows a horse standing upright, serene and alert, dignified and solemn with power. The horse's legs are thick and strong, and all four feet step on the Xiongnu leader with a bow and arrow. The struggling Huns showed a desperate look and described them as narrow-minded and disgusting. The horse legs are like four huge pillars, which are integrated with the horse body and appear solid and stable. The author uses the technique of combining relief with line carving to make the modeling simple and simple, the style calm and vigorous, especially the use of symbolic techniques, which makes it extremely artistic.
"Khufu": 200 cm long, slightly processed with natural stone, slightly carved lines, rich and concise, successfully showing the tiger's attitude of not being angry and arrogant, fierce and alert. In addition to making people feel the majesty of the king of beasts, it also strengthens the broad momentum of the overall shape. It can be called a masterpiece in the stone carving of Huo Qubing's tomb.
The prancing horse (150 cm high) lies with its hind legs curled up, but its arched front legs and upturned head show that the horse is ready to jump into the air at any time, and its whole body shows heroic momentum. Obviously, the author is very familiar with the shape of horses, and is better at using the natural shape of giant rough stones to plan the shape of horses before starting with knives and axes, and can engrave at key points, combining techniques such as round carving, relief carving and line carving, removing the rough and selecting the essence, deleting the complex and simplifying it, and depicting a highly refined and summarized image of horses in Han Dynasty with superb performance skills. The lower part of the stone horse leg is not chiseled, which objectively strengthens the grandeur and massiness of the prancing horse.
The stone carvings of Huo Qubing's Tomb 14, including Horse Stepping Xiongnu, Lying Horse, Vaulting Horse, Crouching Tiger, Lying Elephant, Shi Wa, Stone Fish II, Savage, Cow Licking Calf, Lying Cow, Man Bear, Wild Pig, Stone toad, etc. , and two other inscriptions, all carved from granite. By using the artistic technique of stone carving modeling, the author skillfully combines the techniques of round carving, relief carving and line carving, portrays the image with just the right things, which is enough to show the characteristics of the object, and never makes too many naturalistic carvings, thus strengthening the sense of integrity and strength of the work, and can be called an outstanding representative of "Chinese stone carving, deep and heroic".
The main body of this monument sculpture is the stone carving of Huns riding on horses. In this theme sculpture with a height of 168 cm, the author uses fable to symbolize a title of generals in ancient times with a magnificent and proud Li Zhuo war horse. To celebrate the extraordinary achievements of ancient generals in ancient times in the war against Xiongnu with the typical plot of horses trampling on the invaders to the ground; The loser with a bow and arrow in his hand has not laid down his weapon. Isn't this a warning to the people not to let their guard down? The outline of this work is extremely accurate and powerful, and the part from the horse's head to the horse's back has undergone ups and downs, and the image is very eye-catching. In short, the stone carving of the Xiongnu on the horse is a model of the perfect unity of ideology and artistry, and a symbol of the epoch-making achievements of the monument carving in the Western Han Dynasty. Among the stone carving art left over from ancient China, the stone carving of Huoqubing Tomb in Maoling is the first batch of carving art works in China that use large round carvings to shape the images of people and animals. The stone carving makes full use of the natural shape of the rock, conforms to the shape of the stone, and slightly carves the image of Gu Zhuo, giving people a magnificent, simple and bold feeling, which is rich in the deep, bold and vigorous style of the Western Han Dynasty. These stone carvings in Huo Qubing's tomb are different from the stone carvings such as Tianlu and exorcism listed in front of ordinary tombs, but they have profound ideological content, and their appearance is related to the historical background of the heyday of the Han Dynasty and the requirements of the times at that time.
The Western Han Dynasty was a unified and powerful country in China. At that time, it was in the era of hard struggle of the emerging landlord class, and with the constant intrusion of Xiongnu in the border, the ruling class deeply understood the value of entrepreneurial heroes who risked their lives. Liu bang once shouted: "Andrew's warriors are guarding all directions!" " , and the legendary young general Huo Qubing is in this case to adapt to the needs of the ruling class "warrior". He participated in and commanded the war against Xiongnu for six times, and made many remarkable achievements, especially in the Qilian Mountains, which defeated the Xiongnu army in the north, not only eased the northwest frontier of the Han Dynasty, but also opened the Hexi Corridor leading to the western regions, and made outstanding contributions to the formation of a multi-ethnic country in China and the economic and cultural exchanges with the western regions and West Asia. Just like this, Huo Qubing's untimely death was a great loss to the Western Han Dynasty. In order to commemorate such a legendary hero, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave Huo Qubing a heavy burial, specially buried Huo Qubing with a mausoleum, and ordered that "the tomb is like Qilian Mountain", which was the good intention of the rulers at that time. At the beginning, Huo Qubing once swore to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "Why are Huns immortal?" Now his home after his death is the Qilian Mountain battlefield where he fought and galloped. This unique and intriguing artistic conception was actually built to commemorate the victory of the battle of Qilian Mountain and was carved around the purpose of "burying the statue of Qilian Mountain". In this group, we found 16 stone carvings of horse stepping on Xiongnu, lying horse, vault, khufu, lying elephant, stone fish, bull, giant bear, monster eating sheep, etc., scattered in the grass pit in front of the tomb. And they all have a certain theme, showing a certain artistic realm, forming a series of stone carvings with complete themes.
First of all, about the theme of stone carving.
The stone carving group of Huoqubing Tomb is the largest stone carving group found in the wild in China so far. As a group of stone carving art, the themes of these stone carvings are all around the purpose of "for the tomb, such as Qilian Mountain". At the beginning, Huo Qubing's tomb was built to commemorate his achievements before his death, which is recorded in the biography of Han Weiqing Huo Qubing. "The evil king Kun died in this mountain, so this is a statue to show his merits." It is natural to erect a monumental stone man and horse in front of the tomb in recognition of their achievements. Their role is obviously to highlight the general requirements of "like Qilian Mountain" and vividly reproduce the style of Qilian Mountain and the scene of fierce fighting here in the form of video art, which should be the theme expressed by these stone carvings. But not just in memory of the hero Huo Qubing. I think its more important purpose is to reflect the scene after the victory of Qilian Mountain Battle, and to show that a stable and peaceful life is everyone's requirement and desire. These symbolic stone beasts and horses can illustrate this point. They symbolize the beautiful and rich Qilian Mountains, with dense forests, perfunctory wild animals and lively scenes of herdsmen grazing and hunting. By praising nature, people can understand Huo Qubing's achievements before his death, so as to achieve the distinctive theme to be expressed by this group of stone carvings.
The stone carving of Huo Qubing's tomb is striking because it adopts the artistic technique of taking one as ten. By depicting three war horses with different postures and three stone carvings-stepping on the Xiongnu, lying on the horse and leaping on the horse, people naturally associate the war horses with heroic young generals and countless soldiers who fought bloody battles, thus forming the distinctive theme to be expressed by this group of stone carvings. In order to express this theme, a representative work is "Horse Treading on Xiongnu", which is the central sculpture of this group of stone carvings, and it praises Huo Qubing's great historical achievements in defeating Xiongnu by symbolic means. However, the author did not directly represent Huo Qubing himself, but used the images of man and horse to symbolize the important event of the Qilian Mountain War, which played a role in clarifying the significance of the problem. Ma Weiran stands upright and is magnificent, which highly concentrates the brilliant exploits of Huo Qubing and the powerful national strength of the Han Dynasty, presenting a triumphant gesture and symbolizing justice. Struggling under the horse is the image of the defeated Xiongnu Lord, a bearded Xiongnu with a split mouth and bare feet, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. He is fierce, even with a bow and arrow in his hand, he is doomed to failure. This contrast is used to commemorate the meritorious military service, which is sharp and creative. Throughout this group of sculptures, although there is no necessary connection between them, they are all directly related to the theme of "Like Qilian Mountain". The works contain the feelings and aspirations of the times entrusted by sculptors at that time, their love for life and natural beauty, and their eulogy for peace. These three stone carvings, such as "Vaulting Horse", "Lying Cow" and "Lying Horse", reflect the scenery of agriculture and animal husbandry in the mountains in a peaceful and stable environment after defeating the Xiongnu, which not only describes the vitality of life, but also shows the fertile fields with rich water plants. Lying in Mawei is strict and quiet, with a dignified and serene atmosphere; The artistic conception expressed by the lying cow makes people feel a harmonious and comfortable pastoral life, which reflects people's beautiful desire to pursue a peaceful life. Of course, there are also many stone carvings describing the hard struggle at that time, such as man and bear, monsters eating sheep, etc., which show a scene of desperate struggle and devouring struggle between man and beast, showing the contest between good and evil, justice and evil, reminding people of the danger and cruelty of a bloody battlefield. Through such positive and negative contrast, the distinctive theme is highlighted.
Second, the artistic style of stone carving in Han Dynasty
Harmony between man and nature and natural modeling of stone: Mr. Lu Xun once spoke highly of the stone carvings in the Han Dynasty, thinking that "only the stone carvings in the Han Dynasty are deep and heroic". The overall modeling style, materials and themes of the stone carvings of Huo Qubing's tomb have reached a perfect and unified level, which embodies the profound and heroic style of the times and has some unique artistic characteristics. These stone carvings are all carved from a whole stone, which is relatively large. According to the natural shape of the stone, they skillfully draw lessons from the natural shape of the stone, carve slightly according to its natural trend, carve the key parts, and refine them by combining techniques such as round carving, relief carving and line carving, giving people a feeling of being natural, as if they were wonderful in nature, making the stone carvings easier to blend into the surrounding natural environment and endowing them with. For example, "Toad" uses a piece of turquoise granite, which is round and slightly sharp in natural shape, and its mechanism, texture and shape are the same as toad's appearance. With a little carving by the craftsman, a toad with a long neck and big eyes is alive and kicking, which makes people see at a glance. The shape of wild boar is bold and free, which not only depicts the recklessness of wild boar, but also embodies the bold and unconstrained style. In these stone carvings, ancient craftsmen also paid great attention to vivid description when carving. Stone carvings focus on the parts that can express the animal's demeanor, such as several horses in stone carvings, such as "lying horse" and "vaulting horse". The stone carving pays special attention to the outline of the hoof and hind legs, thus giving the stone horse a powerful posture. As for Shi Hu, the reclining elephant and the reclining cow, the expressions of these animals are mainly reflected in the depiction of their heads, which are exquisitely carved in these places. On the other hand, lifeless places are carved in large quantities, which obviously gives people a free and simple aesthetic pleasure compared with the average treatment method of all parts in general stone carving. In short, in shaping these stone carvings, both realistic expression techniques and extremely exaggerated deformation styles were used. In shaping animal images, we don't deliberately work hard on the similarity of animal modeling, but after having a thorough understanding of animal habits and dynamics, we make full use of the natural morphological characteristics of materials, use natural beauty reasonably and skillfully, and choose the exaggerated and deformed features that can best express their vitality and demeanor to express the theme, giving these hard stones life and vitality.
The great inner strength contained in the stone carvings of Huo Qubing's tomb is due to the artistic expression of the spirit of the times, from which we can also see the soul of the great spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation. Now it is buried like Qilian Mountain and full of vitality. The yellow land after harvest is dotted with sorghum stalks that farmers haven't had time to clean up, and there are rows of proud poplars. It is natural that the ancients were buried with good intentions like Qilian Mountain.
The Artistic Style of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang