Chinese stone carving, like calligraphy and painting, requires the expression of the charm of the object. It can be said that Chinese stone carving is a three-dimensional figure painting, and its aesthetic requirement is to express the spirit, to show the inner world of the characters, and to portray the expressions and postures of the characters. But because it is a three-dimensional plastic art, in addition to the moving beauty, it also has moderate physical beauty, so when people appreciate stone carving works, they often pay attention to whether he has both form and spirit, and artists are creating stone carving works. When it comes to painting, it is also to describe the spirit with form, deliberately pursuing the artistic effect of both spirit and form.
The results of archaeological excavations have proved that China's stone carving art can be traced back to the primitive clan society. In 1986, 5,000-year-old pottery sculptures of sexual worship, nude goddess statues and headless nude goddess statues were unearthed in Niuliang River, a cultural site in western Liaoning. There is a kind of head portrait of a goddess that is close to the head of a real person, and the eyes are inlaid with green round jade balls, which make the eyes sparkle and radiant. It is lifelike, which shows that the original
stone sculpture in our country already have an astonishing artistic level. Next is the indicator of the Shang Dynasty unearthed from a merchant tomb in Anyang City, Henan Province. The roaring, devouring form is also a precious work of art.
The stone sculpture with a huge number and lineup are the terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Shihuang unearthed in Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. It is an unprecedentedly huge colored pottery sculpture in the cultural history of the world so far. The group is limited to the part that has been unearthed. There are more than 6,000 terracotta warriors, forming a majestic and solemn military and political situation, known as the eighth wonder of the world. When the stone sculptors created the statues of chariots and horses, they paid attention to portraying their images from various aspects and reminding them of their characteristics. Therefore, some stand upright and look forward, with a resolute and brave appearance, and some have thick eyebrows, big eyes, and wide mouths. Wide cheeks are brave and witty, some are cheerful, some are silent and thoughtful, and horses also show a kind of narrative, and move affectionately. Such a huge painted pottery not only shows the momentum of Qin Shihuang after the unification of Qin Shihuang in politics , And it shows the high maturity of ancient Chinese stone sculpture in art.
The stone sculpture of the Han Dynasty are the inheritance and development of the stone sculpture of the Qin Dynasty. On the one hand, they use allegorical techniques to create romantic artistic effects; In front of Huo Qubing's tomb in Pingshi, there is a stone sculpture of a horse stepping on a Xiongnu. Huo Qubing's tomb was built as a symbol of Qilian Mountain. Army, in order to show his achievements in the Northern Expedition to the Huns. The representative works of the latter are the terracotta warriors and acrobats of the Han Dynasty discovered successively in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and Luoyang City, Henan Province, especially the tomb of King Chu in Xuzhou. Compared with Qin Yong, the second largest terracotta warriors and horses are much smaller, less than one-third of the Qin warriors, but it is likely that this reflects the change of Qin and Han artistic concepts.
In the Tang Dynasty, the economy was prosperous and the culture was prosperous, and the stone carving art presented the other party's brilliant atmosphere. Most of the stone sculpture in this period were in bright colors and gorgeous shapes. and intimacy. In particular, the statues of female Bodhisattvas are beautiful in shape, elegant in bearing, tender in their eyes and smiling on their mouths. The Hushena Buddha of Fengxian Temple in the Tang Dynasty in the Longmen Grottoes has a plump face and a soft expression, echoing the disciples, Bodhisattvas, kings and warriors on both sides, showing a scene of order and harmony. Just like Wu Zetian was negotiating and talking with his officials, as for the stone sculpture in front of the tombs of the Tang emperors, they are also vivid and powerful, with slightly exaggerated shapes, and pay attention to the character traits of the subjects, like the six horses of Emperor Taizong Zhaoling and Wu Zetian's mother Yang The walking lions in front of Shishun Mausoleum are representative works.
In short, Chinese stone carving art has its own individuality of the times, and also has the overall national commonality. Through certain shapes, it can fully express its charm, and based on certain reality, try its best to express ideals. As long as it can highlight the sacredness and amiability of the object Respectable, you don't need to think too much about the perspective relationship between muscles and bones, which is exactly the difference from Western stone sculpture.
