An Investigation Into The Style Of Painted Sculptures In Temples Of Southern Shanxi Province In Tang, Song And Yuan Dynasties

This dissertation chooses the south regions (including Jincheng, Changzhi, Linfen and Yuncheng) inShanxi province as the targeted locality of this study, where the archaic painted sculptures are of theChinese typicality. It focuses on the painted sculptures in the temples of Buddhism and Taoism andshrines, which can be traced back to the Sui dynasty and continued down to the Yuan dynasty. Then, acomprehensive analysis and exploratory research on the local development of the style of paintedsculptures in the temples of the south regions in the province, their influence on the styles of thepainted sculptures in the Ming and Qing dynasties and in other surrounding regions are also carriedout.The style of the painted sculptures in the temples of the south regions in the province evolved not fromthe unique skills of a particular artisan, but slowly and stably from the talented people as groups withstrong religious faith and superb skills generation after generation. The painted sculptures look simpleand placid, showing the taste of the common folk and creating a style that is marginalized, alternativeand full of folk colour and regional characteristics. This might be called the South Shanxi Style incontrast to the other regions.This dissertation systematically investigates the present state of the painted sculptures in the SouthernShanxi Province left over from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties on the basis of some documents,historical materials and excavation reports. Then, a fresh judgment and understanding built on someconvincing proofs has been reached after the systematical observations and investigations. In addition,a more explicit definition---"the South Shanxi Style" of the temple painted sculptures in the Tang,Song and Yuan dynasties is proposed，and the influence on the painted sculptures of late ages is alsofound. Overall, this dissertation can be considered as a supplementary material to the history of the sculpture styles in the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, and it can particularly contribute to the historyof the archaic sculpture styles in the temples of Shanxi province.