My system is not decent

Chapter 1866

From the perspective of modeling style, it is slightly smaller than the tall and sturdy stone horses in Zhaoling and Qianling in the early Tang Dynasty, with accurate proportions and exquisite carvings.

This is similar to the stone horse in the Tang Jianling Mausoleum. It should be from the mid-Tang Dynasty, and it is a fine stone carving in the Tang Dynasty mausoleum.

If there are a lot of lions, tigers, stone portraits, horses, etc., then the most numerous here must be Buddha statues.

Of course, there are many Buddha statues on the steles, such as the four-sided statues of Buddhism and Taoism in the Western Wei Dynasty.

Buddhism was introduced to China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In addition to classic texts, its transmission method was easier to be accepted and worshiped by believers by "creating teachings based on images".

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, statues became popular. In addition to large-scale excavation of cave temples, individual temples and folk statues were also popular all over the country.

There are roughly three types of these statues: one is statue steles, which combine statues with traditional Chinese stele inscriptions, use the shape of steles to open niches and statues on them, and carve supporters and vows, etc.;
The second is back-screen statues, relying on the back screen to carve single or multiple statues and images of lions and dragons protecting Dharma in the form of reliefs;
The third is the single-body round sculptures, sculptures of individual Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, heavenly kings, warriors, etc. These statues all have a distinct style of the times and strong local characteristics.

Among them, the classics must be the statues of Sakyamuni and Duobao Buddha. The imitations Chen Wenzhe saw here are the classic shapes of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

Like this stone statue, there are a large number of Buddhist stone carvings in the Han and Tang Stone Carving Museum in Xishan.

The museum has a collection of dozens of statues from the Northern Wei Dynasty, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty.

The Buddha statues in the early Northern Wei Dynasty were influenced by the artistic styles of Jianduoluo and Motuluo, so there are obvious foreign factors.

In the mid-to-late period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Sinicization policy was implemented, and Buddhist statues were integrated with our country's traditional artistic style, forming the characteristics of elegant clothes, rich belts, and beautiful bones.

For example, the Northern Wei Dynasty statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattva in the collection, the Buddha is in a high bun, the face is still beautiful, although the face is broken, the clothes are smooth, and the clothes hang in front of the seat in a fan shape, with a clear sense of hierarchy, elegant and dignified.

The statues of the Western Wei Dynasty follow the style of the late Northern Wei Dynasty.

The statues of the Northern Zhou Dynasty changed from the style of the delicate bone statues to the big ones, and the number of large Buddha statues increased.

The standing Buddha of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in the collection has a plump face, a low bun, a large head, a strong body, and a slightly bulging abdomen, which is a typical Northern Zhou statue style.

The standing statues of Bodhisattvas in the Northern Zhou Dynasty also have a strong body, with broad shoulders and generous breasts, chest and belly, and long strings of wreaths all over the body, which are complicated and gorgeous.

There is a standing statue of Bodhisattva in the collection, the whole body is painted with gold, mainly red, yellow and black, the exposed body part is painted with yellow, and the wreath is painted with gold. The color is bright, which is really rare and precious.

The Buddhist statues in the Tang Dynasty are the most glorious chapter in the history of Buddhist art in my country. They got rid of the foreign influence of the early Buddha statues, moved towards nationalization and secularization, and formed a Chinese-style Buddha statue art system.

The standing Buddha statues of the Tang Dynasty in the collection are burly, more than 2 meters high, with towering snails, dignified faces, slightly closed eyes, straight nose bridges, and well-defined mouth corners.

The chest is plump and smooth, the abdomen is slightly retracted, and the thigh muscles are raised.

Wearing a shoulder-length cassock, the clothes are distributed in a "U" shape. The cassock is light and thin, showing a strong and fit body.

This style is derived from the "wet clothing method" of the Motuluo Buddha statue and Yin San Gupta art, and is combined with the style of "Cao clothing out of the water" of Cao Zhongda, a figure painter in the Three Kingdoms period of our country.

This reflects the inclusive, high-spirited, and healthy spirit of the Tang Dynasty.

It is like a Buddha-top Zunsheng Dharani scripture building first invented by Chu Dynasty. This is the work of Tang Kaicheng in the fifth year.

Jingchuang is a form of engraved scriptures that became popular in the Tang Dynasty.

With the promotion of Esoteric Buddhism in the early Tang Dynasty, its important classic "Buddha Zunsheng Dharani Sutra" soon became popular all over the country.

Reciting this sutra can eliminate sin karma and avoid the pain of the evil ways of reincarnation, so it was engraved on the stone pillar.

Sutra buildings are generally octagonal, and there are also six- and four-sided buildings. The bottom is the building seat, the middle is the building with scriptures carved on the body, and the phase wheel orbs are on the top.

Because of the support method of "on a high building" in the scriptures, whenever the dust on the building falls on the body, or the light and shadow of the building is reflected on the body, it is "dust covered with shadows", which is magical.

Therefore, they are widely engraved and placed in thoroughfares, palaces, temples, cemeteries, etc., all over the Tang Dynasty. Other Buddhist scriptures such as "Diamond Sutra" and "Heart Sutra" are also engraved on the sutra pillars.

The Tang Dynasty scriptures in the collection of the museum are more than 1 meter on each side of the square and 0.42 meters high.

The main script in the middle left of the front reads "Supported by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty".

The emperor knelt on the couch, wearing a crown suit and wearing a hat on his head.

With a handsome face and a solemn expression, he holds a wat board in front of his chest with both hands. There is a male dwarf in front of the couch, and a courtier with a fan behind him.

The official script in the middle on the right reads, "Empress of the Tang Dynasty Supports".

The queen knelt on the pomegranate, wearing the highest-grade "Yiyi" in the dresses of the queens of the Tang Dynasty. The maid holding the fan.

On the far left side are engraved with the words "Supporting Yan Yuan Kao Huan Yuanhui" and "Supporting Huan Na Yan, the owner of the Great Treasure Building";
On the far right is engraved "Yan's mother, Jin's support, and the owner of the building, Qingxin's daughter, Yan's wife, Zhao's support.

On the right side are the images of eight supporters, each wearing a Futou, a round-neck robe, and boots, with their respective official titles and names above them.

On the left is engraved: "The old man Zhao Yuanzhe made offerings".

His wife knelt on the couch, and other supporters either knelt on the couch or stood beside them, each with their names.

In the middle of the back is the animal head, two dragons and clouds intersect, and a squatting lion on each side, surrounded by auspicious clouds, dragons and lions, magnificent.

Images of emperors and empresses worshiping Buddha are shown in the Longmen Grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Gongxian Grottoes.

In particular, the image, clothing, and crown of the emperor in the "Picture of the Emperor Respecting the Buddha" in the early Cave 220 of the murals in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang are very similar to the image on the pedestal of this sutra.

The male and female dwarfs on the front side of the emperor and empress are also the same as the male and female dwarfs in the murals of the tomb of Prince Zhanghuai.

This building is rich in content, many characters, accurate and vivid in shape.

Character costumes, canopies, holding fans, magpie tail incense burners, dragons, lions, etc. all have a typical Tang Dynasty style.

The images of emperors and empresses on the Jingzhu were discovered for the first time in stone carvings of the Tang Dynasty.

And the engraving is fine and extremely precious, which can be called "the treasure of the town hall".

As for the builder, it is still unclear which emperor or queen it is.

On the front of the building, the words "Huan Nayan, the owner of the great treasure building and Qing believer, make offerings" are engraved.

But some people think that this person is Yan Yanfan.

Yan Yan and Fan Shenlong paid homage to the prime minister in the first year and took the post of Nayan, and later changed to serve as a servant.

In the early Tang Dynasty, "Nayan" and "Shizhong" were both high-ranking officials and "prime ministers".

It further extends to the self-proclaimed Yan Yanfan, and the engraved stone has "Yan died and Kao Huan Yuanhui made offerings".

In recent years, the Epitaph of Huanchen Fan, the brother of Huanchen Fan, unearthed in Yangluo and collected in the library of Yangluo Teachers College, records: "The eldest father is the heir of Fa, Kao Siliang."

It can be seen that Yan Yanfan and Huan Nayan are not alone.

There are also "Yan Di Na Yan" offerings in the stone carvings, which can be regarded as the ranking of brothers.

In addition, "the old man Zhao Yuanzhe made offerings", and later "Zhe's wife Li Chengshi made offerings".

These are all replaced by the last character of the name, and there is no example of the mixed use of official titles and names in the Tang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)