Decorative Arts, Inheritance And Development Of The Traditional Brick Carving

The traditional art of brick carving, fused by astonishing skill, deep cultural connotation and unique artistic manner, is an important decorative art of the ancient architecture in China. After centuries of evolution, it is fresh and simple but of wonderful workmanship which is excelling nature. Its unique artistic charm reflects the historical course of human being. However, with the development of society and change of human being's way of life, a lot of traditional arts faded away because they could not satisfy the aesthetic needs of the time. The traditional brick carving also cannot avoid such a fate. Its past glory has passed into history slowly due to the decrease demanding of overfull ornaments of modern architecture as well as many other factors. Based on the investigation of the present situation of brick carving, we consider that it is urgent to reverse its survival condition and development. Some preliminary strategies for inheritance and development of brick carving in the modern society have been proposed.The introduction part generally described the origin, methods and significance of this project. The second chapter of this thesis analyzed the historical artistic value of brick carving on the basis of its usefulness and status in ancient architecture. The traditional brick carving not only decorated the ancient architecture but also bore people's aspirations of better life. In the third chapter of this thesis, the development and evolution in all the ages of brick carving in terms of origin, handicraft, material and characteristic style of different historical periods has been expounded. The historical trajectory of brick carving has also been described in this part. Originally, the sacrificial function of brick carving had been developed from pre-Qin to Han Dynasty. Then brick carving stepped into temple from Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, when the Buddhism is booming up. Latter, brick carving was fully integrated into the daily life of common people and was further developed to perfection by workmen and artists in the Ming Dynasty. However, brick carving began to decline gradually in recent years due to losing of its attached base, the traditional architecture. The fourth chapter dissected the hard survival condition and the significance of inheritance and development of brick carving. Last, in view of its unsatisfied situation, we proposed some strategies for the sustainable development of brick carving in modern society.