1. At this time, color painting has become the main means of column decoration, and the practice of carving columns is still retained in some high-grade buildings such as Buddhist temples and palaces, but it is not common. Other decorative means, such as wrapping columns with gold and silver, fabrics and bronze mirrors, are still used in a few buildings, but they mainly exist as a style of color painting, that is, color painting simulates the image of gold and silver fabrics wrapping columns, thus forming a new style of color painting of columns. In a large number of architectural images in Dunhuang murals in the Tang Dynasty, columns are often decorated with such colorful paintings. The middle of the column is about a quarter or a third of the height of the whole column, and the top and bottom are bounded by horizontal lines, just like the effect of fabric wrapping (Figure 2).
2. Although the influx of foreign culture can't shake the quite perfect wooden structure system in Sui and Tang Dynasties, it has brought rich and novel pigment colors, decorative patterns and composition methods to architectural decoration, which is better than that in Six Dynasties. At this time, the popular patterns such as ball flowers, lotus beads, lotus petals and rolling grass are the products of the combination of foreign patterns and local patterns, which are all reflected in column color paintings [18]. In the middle Tang Dynasty, group flowers were widely used in columns, and in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the pattern of rolling grass flowers was widely used. Bead patterns are generally used as horizontal ribbons to divide a column into several sections, or as belts to cover lotus flowers. Lotus pattern inherited the practice of carving columns in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The stigma is covered with lotus petals, the foot of the column corresponds to the stigma with lotus petals, and the column body is made of lotus flowers.
3. In the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, the image of pillars was relatively simple. Even important buildings, such as palaces and Buddhist temples, are painted with red series such as Dan, Zhu and Zhe [19], which is in contrast with the white walls. There are also slight decorations on the stigma, column and column foot (Figure 3). After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the colorful paintings on the colonnade became more and more colorful. The middle part of the colonnade was often painted with the image wrapped in fabric, mostly with staggered flower patterns, bounded by horizontal lines. By the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the color painting of the column was more gorgeous, and the column body was no longer divided into roughly equal sections, but the whole column was divided into three sections [20], which was quite similar to the composition method in the Northern Song Dynasty's Architectural Method. The column is covered with flowers and plants, and there are colorful painting styles everywhere. Some people even painted the statue of the heavenly king as decoration [2 1].
4. During the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, column color paintings were mostly painted in the color of Zhu Zhe, which belonged to warm color [22], and occasionally columns were painted black [23], but green and cool column color paintings also appeared [24].
5. The halo technique has been widely used in column color painting [25], but it is rarely used and there is no mature halo system.
6. The typical composition methods of color painting "double break" [26] and "one whole and two breaks" are also widely used on columns [27] (Figure 4).
The above conclusions are only drawn from the very limited domestic physical objects and literature analysis, which is inevitably biased, because the architectural art of the Tang Dynasty has a great influence on Japan and is well preserved in Japan. Therefore, the research on the column decoration of Tang architecture in Nara, Ping 'an and Kamakura in Japan [28] can make up for the above analysis. The following points have been added to the above summary:
1. At this time, most columns of Japanese buildings are painted with a single color, usually vermilion or plain wood, and occasionally black [29]. Particularly important buildings, such as the four pillars in the center of the Amitabha Hall at that time, were often luxuriously decorated [30] with warm colors, and quite a few of them tended to be blue-green and cool [365,438+0] (Figure 5). Thus, in the Tang Dynasty, China should have painted green columns, which provided strong evidence for the fourth point.
2. The pillars of Japanese architecture are usually divided into several parts by horizontal ribbons composed of beads. Combined with the local example in China, we can see that the horizontal ribbons on the pillars in Sui and Tang Dynasties are very distinctive. The early horizontal strip consisted of two rows of beads [32]; In the later stage, flowers and plants are surrounded by upper and lower lines to form a horizontal lace [33] instead of a beaded pattern; It was not until the Song Dynasty that the horizontal belt decoration was completely simplified to lines.
3. The horizontal girdle divides the column into several parts. The area between the two horizontal belts is painted with a circle in which the Buddha sits, which should come from the niche columns in the cave temples in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to drawing lotus petals on the stigma, the middle of the column and the foot of the column, dividing the column into two halves or covering the column with flowers, there was also this composition method of dividing the column into multiple sections, drawing a circle on each section and sitting a Buddha inside.
To sum up, from the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Five Dynasties, the color painting art of the Ten Kingdoms Column experienced a complicated and rough development process from the simplicity and generosity in the early Sui and Tang Dynasties to the gorgeous and exquisite in the middle Tang Dynasty and then to the late Tang and Five Dynasties. Sui dynasty and early Tang dynasty were the initial period, and column color painting inherited the style of southern and northern dynasties. At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the national strength was weak, which opened the artistic style of Xiaoya in the Song Dynasty. Only the pillar color painting art in the middle Tang Dynasty can best reflect the overall artistic style of this period, which is generous, natural, rich, exquisite and gorgeous. Fourth, the post decoration in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties
Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the architectural art of the Song Dynasty has undergone great changes. The status of the literati class in the Song Dynasty surpassed that of any previous era, and their aesthetic taste made the architectural style of the whole era tend to be exquisite and beautiful, without the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty. The development of urban economy makes people pay more attention to real life, and many secular things are integrated into art. Neo-Confucianism, which ruled the Song Dynasty, made the artistic style of the Song Dynasty more rigorous, implicit and reasonable, but it also lost the creativity of the Tang Dynasty. Column color painting is also influenced by the overall artistic style of the Song Dynasty, showing the characteristics of elegance and simplicity. There are two aspects to study the color painting of the pillars in the Song Dynasty: first, the existing primitive objects; The second is to "create a French style." Through the analysis of the only physical remains that can be found, it can be seen that the column color painting at this time is also scarlet and warm, and there are the following situations.
1, column brush cinnabar, occasionally column headdress plant pattern and moire [34].
2. There are various patterns on the stigma, mainly lotus flowers, and the plant patterns on the red background of the column [35]; Or the stigma and column are connected into a whole, and various patterns are painted on the red ground, mainly plant patterns [36].
3. The lotus flower pattern is painted as hoop head [37] on the column painted with mud and bamboo, at the stigma and column foot (Figure 6). This kind of decoration inherited the style of the Tang Dynasty, which also existed in the early Song Dynasty, and rarely appeared after that, and was replaced by the style that can be seen everywhere.
Architectural French systematically summarizes the column decorations at different levels in the Northern Song Dynasty, which gives us a relatively comprehensive understanding of the column decoration style in the Song Dynasty. In "Building French Style", it is described that column color painting has the following characteristics:
1, "Architectural French" column color painting, basically divided into four parts to distinguish and draw, and divided by lines. Column color painting is only available in three advanced color paintings: multicolored painting, jade grinding painting and green overlapping painting, and most of them are lotus flowers, which can make the column body and column base transition smoothly visually.
2. The length of the stigma is the same as the amount of the column, and the foot of the column is mostly the same height as the stigma, and the rest are columns, which are the backbone of the column. The column is separated from the stigma and column foot by overlapping halo lines.
3. The pattern of the stigma is geometric patterns such as fine brocade and square victory, and the static state is used to set off the main color painting of the column. The colored paintings at the foot of the column are only colored clothes and green clothes, and the pattern is basically similar to the stigma. The jade clothes are integrated with the column body and fall directly on the column. However, the column feet decorated with Dan powder and loess brush are connected with the stigma and are all painted with Dan.
4. The hierarchy of architectural decoration is clearly reflected in the color paintings of columns [38].
5. The column color painting is the main decorative part of the column color painting, taking multicolored dressing as an example. The stigma is made of fine brocade and exotic flowers, the foot of the column is made of fine brocade, and the column is made of green and red lotus. These are bedding, regular geometric patterns and static patterns, such as lotus petals, to set off the gorgeous and dynamic decorative patterns of the column. The columns are first-class patterns such as sea pomegranate flowers, and the patterns are also mixed with bird images such as flying phoenix and dragon and phoenix metaplasia. Among them, animals and figures such as dragons, phoenixes and metaplasia are the central themes of column color painting, and the plant patterns in the column generally only play a role in limiting and setting off. The same is true of other grades of colored paintings.
6, column color painting, in addition to Danfen and loess brush decoration, the basic color painting is mainly green and cold [39].
Combining the above two aspects of analysis, we can get the overall impression of post-Song color painting.
1, color painting is the most important means of column decoration, and carved columns occasionally appear [40]. Other precious jade, pearl jade and splendid scenery are almost no longer used for column decoration.
2. The blue-green, cool-toned column color painting that appeared in the Tang Dynasty was quite mature in the Northern Song Dynasty and quickly reached its peak. It was recorded in "Building French", but there was no evidence in "Building French", and then it quickly disappeared.
3. At this time, the overlapping halo of column color painting has a clear system, unlike the Tang Dynasty, which is dominated by halo.
4. At the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, the application of early color painting almost covered all the pillars, which inherited many characteristics of the Tang Dynasty and then developed in the direction of profusion and luxury. In the later period, it gradually developed to be used only on the beam frame, and all the columns were painted red without painting, which compared the artistry and simplicity of architectural color painting, emphasized the three-dimensional sense of the house, and highlighted the rich changes of light, color and shape in the shady part under the eaves, which was the mature performance of color painting.
Yuan is the connection point between Song Dynasty and Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a history of less than a hundred years. Most of its pillar color paintings were inherited from the Song Dynasty, but they kept their own Mongolian cultural characteristics. Its powerful national strength supports the complexity and roughness of its architectural decoration. The pillars of Daming Hall in Yuan Dynasty were also painted scarlet. The affiliated halls on both sides of Daming Hall are decorated with "carved dragons, incense and white jade". The pillars of Guanghan Temple are carved with a dragon, which makes it "perched on the Danying". [4 1] The pillars of Sanqing Hall, Chunyang Hall and Chongyang Hall of Yongle Palace in Shanxi Imperial City are also painted with vermilion. It can be seen that the main means of protecting and decorating the pillars in Yuan Dynasty is to brush cinnabar, but in the ruling palaces, there are luxurious decorations on the pillars, such as gold, silver, copper and other metal decorations, jade, wood carving and other materials to decorate the pillars, but it is no longer the mainstream. And the pillars are no longer green and cool.
From Yuan Dynasty to Ming and Qing Dynasties, the overall art of architecture reached its peak. At this time, the colorful paintings of the pillars developed. Beiguan practice, the column body is not painted, only painted with earth ink. The colored painting of the stigma only exists as a continuation of the forehead, and the pattern, color and forehead are considered in a unified way. Therefore, architectural color painting is limited to the shelf part under the eaves. Only when the columns are simple and powerful can the huge roof be supported visually. In fact, the column spacing increases, the column increases and the cross-sectional area decreases. If you carve patterns on it, you will feel heavy and delicate.
Looking back on the development of ancient pillar decoration in China, we can see that painting and painting with pigments appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, which became the mainstream of pillar decoration in Sui and Tang Dynasties and gained a unified position after Song Dynasty. Cinnabar has always been the basic color in the whole development process of column color painting. Except in the early (Spring and Autumn Period) when columns were painted in different colors, only Architectural French recorded a large number of blue-green column color paintings. The color painting of pillars experienced a process from the early simplicity to the brilliance of Tang and Song Dynasties, and then to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the Song Dynasty as its peak. Sculpture, another main form of pillar decoration, was the most popular in Qin, Han, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then gradually declined. However, due to its strong decorative function, it has been preserved in important buildings such as palaces and Buddha statues and has been in a state of decline. Others, such as jade and splendid materials, only appear in particularly gorgeous buildings and have never been the mainstream of column decoration. In addition, it is worth noting that the early stage of the late decoration and the shelf part are integrated, and then gradually separated, and the independence of the late decoration gradually emerged. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the two were completely separated.