What are the common stone carvings in ancient temple buildings?
In ancient times, temples were generally places used to worship ancestors, gods, Buddhas, or sages from previous generations. In modern times, almost every city has a temple dedicated to their patron saint, and most cities have multiple temples dedicated to the gods they believe in. Today, temple culture has penetrated into all aspects of our lives, such as architecture, geography, painting, sculpture, cultural relics, temple fairs, etc.
In an ancient temple building, most of them are usually decorated with stone carvings and wood carvings. Among them, stone carvings are the most prominent. The ingenious traditional stone carving craftsmanship and exquisite product displays add an antique historical and cultural atmosphere to the ancient temple buildings. Let’s take a look at the types of stone carvings commonly used in ancient temple buildings.
1. The mountain gate of the temple - the stone carving gate archway
In the past, temples were mostly built among mountains and forests, so the mountain gate was another name for the temple. Nowadays, most temples have become places where people come for pilgrimage and tourism. Therefore, a magnificent mountain gate will be built in front of the temple to attract pilgrims from all over the world.
This mountain gate is usually carved with various stones to build a stone gate archway that integrates carving, painting and plaques. In traditional Chinese stone carving, every stone carving door arch is a stone carving handicraft. It uses traditional stone carving techniques such as round carving, openwork carving, high relief carving, low relief carving, flat relief carving, negative line carving, etc., which are widely used in the carving of stone archways.
2. The pillars of the temple - carved stone dragon pillars
The carved stone dragon pillars are traditional buildings of the Chinese nation and have a long history. It is a cylindrical stone with carved cloud dragons entangled on the outside. A beautiful cloud plate runs across the column, which looks like moving clouds inserted into the clouds. The entire dragon pillar symbolizes auspiciousness, luxury and other meanings.
A variety of carving techniques are used on a table of stone carved dragon columns, such as: round carving, openwork carving, line carving, flat carving, relief carving, painting carving and other multi-carving techniques.
3. Temple guardrails - stone railings
Stone railings are the most common component of traditional Chinese architecture. In ancient temple buildings, stone railings are the most indispensable. It can be blocked and enclosed to separate different areas without cutting off the connection between the areas. In particular, the carved patterns on the railings also play a role in embellishment of the environment.
A stone railing generally consists of three parts: a pillar, a railing, and a base. The pillar is divided into two parts: a column body and a column head.
4. Temple relief stone blocking
Relief stone blocking - relief, it is generally used on the plane of the temple wall to carve an undulating image. It is a kind of sculpture between the round sculptures. artistic expression with painting. In China, relief stone blocks are mainly dragon blocks, with various forms such as one-dragon wall, three-dragon wall, five-dragon wall, seven-dragon wall, and nine-dragon wall. Among these forms, Nine Dragon Wall is the most noble, and Nine Dragon Wall can often be seen in temples.
5. Temple stone carving incense burners and stone carving gold-burning furnaces
Stone carving incense burners are generally made of finely carved high-quality bluestone, and lifelike dragons are usually carved on both sides of the incense burner. The function of the stone incense burner is to hold incense sticks for daily worship to the gods. "The sun shines on the incense burner and produces purple smoke" is a poem written by Li Bai, a poet from the Tang Dynasty.
Temple gold burning furnaces are generally made of bluestone and granite. The stone carving and gold-burning furnace stone is an essential tool for the "incense path" and is also an indispensable offering in Chinese folk customs, religions, and sacrificial activities.
6. Temple stone pavilions, stone towers, stone drums, and stone lanterns
Stone towers are traditional Chinese buildings carved from various stones and have specific forms and styles. The stone pagoda is the foundation of the temple pagoda. It is an important part connecting the pagoda body to the underground palace. It is the most common stone pagoda in temples.
Stone drums: most of them do not exist alone. They are often used together with door hairpins, thresholds, door leaves, door frames, and railings to produce an overall stone carving decorative effect. They are placed together with stone lions to enhance the beauty. It has decorative functions such as praying for blessings, auspiciousness, and warding off evil spirits.
Stone lantern: It is also a kind of plastic art. It uses various stones to create visible and touchable works of art with a certain space.
Stone lanterns are a traditional lighting fixture in East Asia, originating from China. The earliest prototype was a lamp lit when worshiping Buddha in China.
Common stone carvings in ancient temples include: large Buddha statues, stone carvings of Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Four Heavenly Kings, Eighteen Arhats, Five Hundred Arhats and other religious figures. There are also various stone carvings symbolizing auspiciousness such as the twelve zodiac signs, merit stele, stone sculptures of brave, unicorn, stone lion, elephant, camel stele, dragon, turtle, auspicious beasts, etc.
Keywords: ancient temple buildings