The brick carvings in the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are full of interesting details. When you zoom in with a telephoto lens, you can actually see Tang poems.
Chen's Academy, also commonly known as Chen Family Ancestral Hall, is located on Zhongshan 7th Road, Guangzhou, covering an area of 15,000 square meters. It is an outstanding representative of typical Lingnan ancestral hall-style architecture.
The Chen Family Ancestral Hall is a collection of Lingnan wood carvings, brick carvings, stone carvings, gray sculptures, pottery sculptures and paintings. It is itself a museum of folk decorative arts. Therefore, in 1994, it also added Guangdong folk crafts. Museum sign.
The roof of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is decorated with a large number of brick carvings. For such works of art, "experts can see the door, and laymen can see the excitement." As a famous tourist attraction in Guangzhou, if you are not a professional or practitioner , it is difficult to see the entrance, and most tourists come here purely for the purpose of watching the excitement.
Since the roof is at least 10 meters away from the ground, when you stand on the ground and look up at the roof, you can only see the rough outline of the brick sculpture. Without the help of a telescope, it is difficult to see the shape of the work clearly. Waiting for more details.
Although I did not bring a professional telescope, today’s smartphones are so rich in functions. You can use the telephoto function of the camera as a telescope. After magnifying 5-15 times, you can clearly see various brick sculptures. The name, author, and age of each brick carving work can be seen with the shapes of animals, people, and various flowers and plants. There are even couplets engraved on both sides of some works. (All the pictures in this article were taken with a mobile phone zoomed in at least 5X.)
Unexpectedly, the brick carving works that are zoomed in are so vivid and lifelike that they not only have a high decorative effect, but also have a high level of art. The attainment and appreciation value can be called a treasure of Lingnan folk decorative art. Even a layman who "watches the excitement" can gain a lot of knowledge about brick carving while receiving a beautiful artistic influence.
Use chisels and wooden hammers to deeply carve the surface of the finished green bricks, and drill out various images of characters, flowers, etc. as decorations on a certain part of the building.
In terms of themes, the brick carvings include dragons and phoenixes presenting auspiciousness, harmony between two immortals, bangs playing with golden toads, three Yang kaitai, Guo Ziyi celebrating longevity, unicorns delivering children, lions rolling hydrangea, pine and cypress, orchid, bamboo, Camellia, chrysanthemum, lotus, carp, happiness, fortune, longevity, etc. mainly imply auspiciousness, health and wealth.
Brick carving became popular in the Guangfu area in the mid-Qing Dynasty, and reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty, forming unique Lingnan-style brick carvings. In terms of technical performance, compared with some thick and large brick carvings in the north, Lingnan brick carvings use garden carvings, high reliefs, hollowing out and other techniques to be meticulous, varied, regular and smooth, more refined and interesting!
The brick carvings of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are the culmination of Lingnan brick carvings. They are delicate, exquisite and beautiful. They are made of refined water-polished blue bricks and are often called "hanging line brick carvings". The brick carvings of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are mainly found in several parts: exterior walls, wall lintels, corridor doors (archways, plaques), headpieces, etc.
The brick carvings in Chen Clan Ancestral Hall mostly feature flowers and birds and animals with auspicious symbolic meanings, with rich and diverse materials and colorful expressions. Some patterns are taken from historical classics and allusions, such as "Liangshan Juyi" in "Water Margin", "Jiang Ziya Worshiping the Prime Minister" in "Feng Shen Bang", "Talking with Confucians" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", etc.
For example: This painting "Juyi at Liangshan" takes the stage in a drama as the background. In the middle is the tall and majestic Juyi Hall, with pavilions behind it. On the wooden pillars on both sides of the Juyi Hall is a couplet, which reads "Eternal heroes compose the universe, and eternal loyalty runs through the universe." Chao Gai stood in the middle of the Juyi Hall. Wu Yong, holding a feather fan, stood below Chao Gai, followed by Lin Chong and others. ***52 figures. The figures standing on the attic have different shapes and rich expressions. They all poke their heads and look left and right, not knowing what excitement they are watching.
Some patterns combine symbolism and harmony. For example, the words "Buddha" and "Fu" in Buddha's hand are homophonic. The peach represents longevity. The carving of Buddha's hand and peach together means many blessings. Longevity; the pattern of a big lion and a small lion means promotion, fortune, success, etc.
For example: This is the "Comprehensive Picture of Five Ethics". There are five kinds of birds carved on it: phoenix, crane, mandarin duck, wagtail, and warbler, with the inscription "Flowers dance when the wind comes, and birds can speak when spring comes." "Five ethics" refers to "righteousness between king and minister, affection between father and son, and distinction between husband and wife." , The elders and younger ones are in order, and friends have trust.”
Some patterns are accompanied by popular poems, such as: appearing on the head brick sculpture in the main hall, under the carp pattern.
The respective works include "Spring Dawn" by Meng Haoran: I sleep in spring without realizing the dawn, and I can hear the singing of birds everywhere. The sound of wind and rain at night can tell how many flowers have fallen; Li Bai's "Thoughts on a Quiet Night": The bright moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be frost on the ground. Raise your head to look at the bright moon, lower your head to think about your hometown.
Some patterns are a perfect combination of Chinese and Western styles, such as the little angel pattern. The little angel has a bun on his head, a small bellyband on his body, and small pants. The image of a Chinese boy + Christian angel appears on the decoration of Lingnan buildings, which reflects the spirit of tolerance and multiculturalism in Guangzhou.
Some brick carvings skillfully integrate safety into certain parts of the protagonist of the pattern. For example: the tentacles on the carp's head are very vivid and vivid. They are not only part of the carp's body, but also can be As a lightning rod.
Through the above-mentioned examples, we can see that the brick carvings of Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are worthy of being the artistic treasures of carving craftsmanship and Lingnan decoration.