My system is not decent

Chapter 1878 Points, lines, squares and circles, geometric images

During the period of Peiligang and Yangshao cultures, the glacial period in the land of China ended, and it was a period of warm climate that was very suitable for human survival and development.

The settled farmers and peasants weaved songs of peace in peace and harmony.

They make all kinds of pottery, and they like to use abstract and concise, generalized human-mask-fish patterns and various geometric patterns for decoration.

People's understanding of formal beauty has been greatly expanded, and plastic arts have also expanded to various fields of sculpture.

The early stone carving works of the Neolithic Age in my country can be represented by the stone grinding discs and grinding rods of the Peiligang Culture.

It is made of sandstone, and its appearance is designed as a sole-like geometry, neat and generous, with a stable center of gravity.

Its processing is very difficult, requiring beating, cutting, pondering and trimming, involving various basic techniques of stone carving processing.

Compared with the various polished stone tools at the same time, it has a more sense of form.

It is not only a faithful record of the production and labor of primitive people, but also reflects a high aesthetic value.

This kind of stone tool, which embodies the dual nature of labor, is often placed beside the dead as a funeral object. It is the religious appeal that prompts the artist to create this rare stone sculpture.

However, during the Stone Age, pottery sculpture was always the mainstream of sculpture because it was easy to shape and the materials were available everywhere.

Stone carvings remained rare works of art until the invention of iron, so our attention must turn to petroglyphs.

Rock carvings and petroglyphs are still the main form of creation of primitive artists in border areas with suitable conditions, and they are enduring for a long time.

For example, there are many Neolithic works in the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain.

The expressive style of Yinshan rock paintings has a profound and profound influence.

In fact, most of the petroglyphs created by ancient nomads in the north and northwest of my country were chiseled and carved from stone walls, and their origin should be traced back to the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain.

In addition, the description of hunting and animals has always been an eternal theme.

The pictorial characters in the bronze inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the realistic patterns of the bronze wares of the Warring States period, and the hunting pictures of figures in the portrait bricks of the Qin Dynasty are all extensions of such techniques.

It's just that the latter is becoming more and more precise, formalized and rhythmic.

It can be seen that the abstract generalization and exaggerated characteristics of black shadow techniques can best reflect the aesthetic ideal of Chinese classical art not emphasizing similarity and pursuing vivid and vivid spirit.

In addition, another source of my country's ancient stone carving techniques - line carving, also appeared in the Neolithic Age.

The stone carvings found on General Cliff of LYG, Jiangsu Province are believed to have been chiseled by primitive ancestors at the end of the Neolithic Age.

This form of line engraved stone carving is the most widely used in the creation of stone carvings in the past dynasties.

Although there are not many stone carvings unearthed in the Neolithic Age, their style is not simple, and it is completely different from stone carvings and petroglyphs.

Several talc carvings from Houwa, Donggou, Liao Province, are all round sculptures of small human heads, with rough and clumsy knife techniques, simple and vivid images, indicating that they are symbolic works.

Although the human head stone carvings are immature and abstract, it does not mean that the carving techniques at that time were low.

For example, the embossed human face of Daxi culture adopts the technique of carving and grinding, and its image also has an invisible religious power.

Obviously, the sculptors at that time put their main energy on creating jade carvings.

Because we have seen many exquisite jade carvings and small stone carvings in Hongshan Culture and Liangzhu Culture.

The Jade Dragon of the Hongshan Culture is a rare masterpiece made of Xiuyan jade, which is relatively hard.

This is the proof that stone carving techniques are applied to jade carving creation.

As we all know, in ancient carvings, the materials of jade and stone are difficult to distinguish, and there are only relative views in the classification standards of experts.

But one thing we can confirm is that in the Stone Age and Bronze Age, ancient sculptors treated jade and stone equally.

Therefore, in Hongshan culture and Beiyinyangying culture, we can see fish-shaped stone pendants and Yuhua stone decorations coexisting with the five carvings.

On the other hand, primitive artists also widely used their skills in the field of practical utensil processing.

They made stone pestles, mortars, grinding discs, and various stone farming implements.

At the same time, it is also used to carve tombs and stone coffins of the stone chamber type.

Especially the emergence of the latter has a very important position in the history of ancient Chinese stone carving architectural art.

The late Neolithic stone shed found in Haicheng, Liao Province is one of the masterpieces.

In the late Paleolithic period, megalithic buildings were a simple combination of uncarved natural boulders, appearing calm and powerful.

It is a product of the primordial megalithic cult that elevates man beyond the world.

It was once popular in the Eurasian grasslands, then spread to the East Asian continent, and then entered the civilization era, and its relics can still be found in the border areas.

In the form of dolmens in the Liaosheng sea area, the stone slabs have been carved into regular geometric shapes, and the artificial power is strengthened, while the natural force and religious spirit are obviously weakened.

It is considered the epilogue of megalithic structures, dolmens, which are believed to be burials.

In the minds of prehistoric people, megaliths are usually considered the abode of spirits or gods, so they are often used as boundary stones, coffins, or objects of religious worship.

So far, archaeological discoveries of Neolithic stone carvings can be roughly divided into several categories.

The first category is traditional stone carvings, including traditional typical microlithic tools and small ornaments;

The second category is grinding practical utensils, including daily necessities, utensils, production tools, and weapons;
The third category is idols of religious nature;
The fourth category is animal stone carvings and carved rocks with a breath of life.

Among them, utensils and animal stone carvings can best represent the highest level of stone carving modeling at that time.

Later, in the tomb of Fuhao in the Shang Dynasty, I saw the existence of many sculptures of realistic animals and imaginary divine animals.

These can not but be attributed to the Neolithic Age, the stone carving tradition that is keen on praising natural life.

In addition, now we can also get a glimpse of the beauty of the artistic language of geometric modeling from the practical utensils created by the ancestors of the Neolithic Age.

Facts have shown that Neolithic stone products, such as production tools and weapons, all have points, lines and outlines that can arouse people's visual beauty.

These constitute an unprecedented system of geometric art language in the form of modern decoration.

Without rules, it is not enough to form a circle. This is the most essential observation and experience of the ancients on the beauty of form.

Therefore, the early hieroglyphs in our country are all exquisite figures composed of square and round lines combined with dots and dashes.

These pictographs are artistic creations that combine language and aesthetics.

In fact, it has the same origin as the geometric shape of the original stone carving.

Ancient humans created geometric images such as points, lines, squares, and circles while creating living utensils.

If you take a closer look at the typical stone products of the late Neolithic age, you can't help but admire how the ancient ancestors had such superb modeling skills.

(End of this chapter)