Six Dynasties Vatan Appreciation

Vatan is a decoration of the roof of a Chinese ancient building. It is engraved with a variety of patterns on the front, and some engravings represent auspicious words. Initially, the Vadang was mostly semi-circular and was called half-wattage. It began to appear as a circular tile in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it has continued to this day.

The historic Wada, as a unique component of the ancient Chinese architectural system, embodies the distinctive zeitgeist spirit, aesthetic interest and certain cultural features. It is a cultural relic with strong time and regional characteristics. The ancient capital of Nanjing was the political, economic, and cultural center of the Six Dynasties. In recent years, with the deepening of urban archaeological work in Nanjing, many underground Six Dynasties architectures have been continuously discovered, and a large number of various Dynasties in the six Dynasties were unearthed one after another, providing valuable resources for the comprehensive study of the Six Dynasties culture. Physical information. The most widely used animal face pattern, lotus pattern, and moire pattern are described below:

Animal face pattern tile (Figure 1) diameter 13 cm, wheel width 0.9 cm, height 0.9 cm. The surface of the animal is decorated with a narrow face, wide and narrow, for the tiger face shape, the long drop-shaped eyes obliquely erect, vertical bile-shaped high nose, upper nose bridge reach the forehead and each side out of the three lines, making a dendritic. The mouth is large and there are two outlines outside the mouth, and two long and short beards are exposed in the mouth. There is a small ear on the left and right of the head, with straight and straight hairs on both sides of the face and under the mouth. A hole was drilled between the nose and forehead, and the hole diameter was 0.8 cm.

Animal face pattern tile (Figure 2) diameter 13.7 centimeters, wheel width 1.1 centimeters, height 1.1 centimeters. The surface of the animal is decorated with a narrow width and a narrow face for the tiger's face. The drop-shaped eyes are slightly curved and angled. The eyes are double-lined and the eyebrows are brooded. The nose is small and highly convex, with tridentate dendrites on the forehead. The mouth is open and the mouth is upturned, exposing the upper and lower rows of incisors and cavities, tongue sticking, and a contour line outside the mouth. The two lines are connected between the lower nose and the upper lip. There is a small ear on each side of the head, and the beast face is decorated with hair, and a hole is drilled in the upper part of the nose. The hole diameter is 1 cm.

Animal face pattern tile (Figure 3) diameter 14.4 cm, side wheel width 1.2 cm, height 1 cm. The upper part of the beast is slightly wider than the lower part, the outline of the animal face is more free, and the lines are not sealed up and down. Oval shape microprojections. The nose is in the form of a right triangle. The nose line reaches the forehead. The lines between the sides of the nose and the eyes outline an ellipse, and a circle is decorated in the circle. Rectangular mouth, exposed two rows of fine teeth in the mouth. A small amount of hair on both sides of the face and under the jaw. A hole is drilled in the upper part of the nose and the hole diameter is 0.9 cm.

Animal face pattern tile (Figure 4) diameter 13.8 centimeters, side wheel width 0.8 centimeters, height 0.8 centimeters. Animal face outlines are simplified. Drop-shaped eyes stand obliquely, with finely curved eyebrows, high nose, and a triangular protrusion on each side of the lower part of the nose. Inverted trapezoidal mouth, exposed two rows of teeth in the mouth and two teeth, tongue tip. Long hair on both sides of the mouth. There are five grass-leaf lines erected on the forehead, with oval patterns on both sides of the lines. A hole was drilled in the upper part of the nose and the hole diameter was 0.8 cm.

Animal face pattern tile (Figure 5) diameter 14 cm, side wheel width 1.3 cm, height 1.5 cm. Animal face outlines are simplified. Drop-shaped eyes obliquely erect, high nose, big mouth was inverted trapezoid, mouth exposed two rows of fine teeth. Both sides of the nose, under the mouth and on both sides of the face are covered with bristles. A hole is drilled in the upper part of the nose and the hole diameter is 0.5 cm.

Lotus pattern tile (Figure 6) diameter 11.7 cm, side wheel width 1 cm, height 0.8 cm. When the face is decorated with 9 petals, the end of the separating line between the petals is made of three-pointed lotus buds, the central lotus house is raised, and 7 lotus seeds are decorated. There is a convex string pattern around the face. A hole is drilled slightly in the center of the lotus, with a hole diameter of 0.6 cm.

Lotus pattern tile (Figure 7) slightly deformed in the face, was elliptical, diameter 13 cm, wheel width 0.9 cm, height 1.1 cm. When there is a 16-petal lotus on the face, there is a dividing line between the lotus petals, the top of the line is an arrowhead-shaped protrusion, and the arrows are connected by a short line, so that the face is divided into 16 fan-shaped grids. Each box has a lotus petal. The central lotus house is large and raised, with 19 lotus seeds on it, and lotus seeds arranged in 2 turns. A hole is made in the middle of the lotus house, and the aperture is 0.55 cm.

Lotus pattern tile (Figure 8) diameter 12 cm, wheel width 1.2 cm, height 1 cm. When there is a 16-petal lotus on the face, there is a dividing line between the lotus petals, the top of the line is an arrowhead-shaped protrusion, and the arrows are connected by a short line, so that the face is divided into 16 fan-shaped sashes. Each box has a lotus leaf. The central lotus house is large and bulging, with 7 lotus seeds on it, and a hole on the outside of the lotus house, with an aperture of 0.9 cm.

Lotus pattern tile (Figure 9) when face decorated with 12 petals lotus, lotus petals separated by a line, the top of the line was an arrow-shaped protrusion, the arrows connected by a short line, so that the face is divided into 12 fan-shaped sashes, each box There is a lotus leaf in the grates. The central lotus house rises high, with 9 lotus seeds on it, and a hole in the middle of the lotus house. The aperture is 0.8 cm.

Lotus pattern tile (Figure 10) residual, no wheel. About 14.4 cm in diameter. When the face is decorated with 8 petals, but only 3 petals remain. Petal-shaped broad fertiliser, with a triangular pattern of inverted arcs between the petals and the petals. The central lotus room is large, with 10 lotus seeds on it. The lotus room is in a flat surface with a convex string pattern around the lotus. A hole is drilled in the center of the lotus house, the hole is remnant, and part of the wall remains.

The moire pattern (Fig. 11) has a diameter of 13.8 cm, a wheel width of 0.8 to 1 cm and a height of 0.9 cm. In the center of the face, there is a large breast-dot pattern, and in addition to three parallel lines, the milk-dye pattern is divided into four symmetrical fan-shaped shapes, each of which is decorated with a simplified mushroom-like moire. A circular zigzag pattern between the moiré and the bezel. A hole was drilled on the side of the central large breast and the hole diameter was 0.9 cm. The wall of the hole was smooth, but the outer periphery of the hole was partially damaged.

The moiré pattern is generally found in the lowest part of the Six Dynasties. It should be the relics of the early period of the Six Dynasties from the Eastern Wu Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty. It also retains some of the relics of the Dynasties in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The patterns of the six-deep mottled tiles unearthed in Nanjing were basically similar, with few changes. They were generally high-edged wheels. The center of the face was a large breast-dot pattern with a convex string pattern on the outside. The outside was divided into four groups of three parallel straight lines. Four districts, each decorated with a moire. A decorative band consisting of a small raised triangle or a short straight radiating line at one edge of the face.

The animal face pattern wattles are generally unearthed in the middle and late strata of the Six Dynasties, approximately equivalent to the period from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties. Their appearance characteristics are also high-edged. The face is obviously lower than the side wheel, and most of the raised lines outline the face pattern of beasts. There are many face changes, some with narrow upper and lower face outlines, some without outlines; binoculars generally for oblique drop-shaped eyes, eyes with double or single line border, and some without borders; nose bridge short and convex From the middle of the eyebrows, the mouth is open, the fangs are exposed, and the look is abhorrent; the hair is expressed in short, straight radial lines around the face. In the middle and late Six Dynasties, with the southern style, the animal face pattern tile with traditional Chinese thoughts occupied an important position. Together with the lotus patterns in the sky at that time, it created a style of Vadam with a distinctive style of the times. Face modeling has a new era style. Animal face pattern tile (Fig. 1, 2) is the early and middle stage of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Vatan animal face pattern is rigorous and regular, and the composition lines are straight; animal face pattern tile (Figure 3) in the middle and late Eastern Jin Dynasty; animal face pattern tile (Figure 4, 5) For the Southern Dynasties Vadang not only retained the basic style of the early animal face modeling, but at the same time, some changes have taken place, such as the wide and narrow surface of the animal face has become loose and free, the contour line is no longer closed, the surface of the animal face symbolizes the hair to be hard straight Become soft.

The lotus pattern tile is the type with the most number and the most abundant shape and ornamentation pattern in the six dynasty tile. The overall feature is the high-edge wheel. The center of the lotus pattern is the lotus, and the surrounding petals are decorated in different sizes, but in details. The ornamentation is relatively rich in changes, such as the area occupied by the central lotus, which varies from 5, 7 to 10, and 7 of them are the most common. The lotus petals are thin and some are rich. Some petals are upturned, and the number of petal petals is 8 petals, 9 petals, 10 petals, 16 petals, 8 petals; the details of the separation between the petals and the outer edge of the petals Not the same. The lotus pattern tile (Fig. 6) is the early period of the Southern Song Dynasty Liusong period; the lotus pattern tile (Fig. 7, 8, 9) is the middle and late period of the Southern Dynasty (about the same period of Qi, Liang, and Chen); the lotus pattern tile (Fig. 10) is only A type of tile without wings, a special shape, the petal hypertrophy, decorated with inverted arc between the edge of the triangular pattern, with the characteristics of the relatively late times, before and after the Southern Dynasty Liang Dynasty.

Although the lotus pattern had been used as a decorative pattern of Vadam as early as the Qin Dynasty, the quantity was not large and it did not form the mainstream. Its rapid popularity in the Six Dynasties and its long history influence undoubtedly had a significant relationship with the extensive influence of Buddhism in China at the time. In Buddhist art, lotus stands for "pure land," meaning auspiciousness, and symbolizing "purity of nature." As early as before Buddhism was introduced to China, the lotus flower was cherished in India. After its introduction, it was popularized with the spread of Buddhist culture. According to the Indian epic “The Mahabharata”, the beginning of heaven and earth, Vishnu gave birth to a lotus in the umbilicus. Brahma was born in the flower and created everything. Therefore, the lotus is a symbol of the successful accomplishment of Buddhist practice. Therefore, starting from the early period of the Six Dynasties, the lotus gradually merged with people's daily life along with the spread of Buddhist ideas and the process of Buddhism in China. In the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, Buddhism was unprecedentedly popular, up to the emperor, and down to the people, all were Buddhists. Under the vigorous advocacy of Emperor Liang Wudi, Buddhism became a "state religion" and got greater development. Lotus is a token of Buddhist esteem, so the lotus Vadan began to flourish in the country, and the lotus pattern appeared in all aspects of people's life at that time, from small utensils to large appliances to the temple, decorated with lotus patterns everywhere.