Research On Tomb Murals Of The Han Dynasty In LuoYang Region

The study on drawings of the Han Dynasty is one of the hot issues which draw the attention of academic circles at home and aboard.One reason is that the discipline of Art History has gained substantial progress, and some local scholars actively participate, the other reason is that various methods of the humanities also have provided the new viewpoint and angle for the study of the Han Dynasty drawings.The mural tombs of the Han Dynasty found in Luoyang region can be called the representatives of murals of the Han Dynasty for its great quantities, concentrated distribution, temporal continuity, and its subject matter, technique, layout and other vision effects which all together have aroused the attention of scholars both at home and abroad.Many scholars have made research, interpretation and analysis of the murals found in Luoyan region, which provides good academic information to lay a solid foundation for the research of the murals on the Han Dynasty tombs. However, researches of many scholars have been limited to case study and interpretation. Though some scholars have made analysis of the art style and aesthetic style of the murals in a horizontal perspective, their researches are still confounded within sorting of the archaeological materials and some general praises in the artistic level and thus are lack of systematic and deep theoretical analysis as well as creativity and innovation in the research angle and methodology.For some blind spots and errors of the research on the tomb murals found in Luoyang region, diverse research methods are applied. From the perspective of sociology, culturology and Iconology, the thesis around "the concept of overall tombs", with the historical and archaeological theory, adopts the method of combining theoretical and archeological references, and carries out a comprehensive and systematic research on the tomb murals in order to analyze the roles, functions and connotations of the shape layout, theme images and builders of Luoyang tomb murals on a deeper level.Through the systematic and comprehensive research on the tomb murals of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang, this thesis tries to re-examine and reconstruct the depictive logic of the Han tomb murals in Luoyang, with the aim to explore in the overall tomb culture the relationship between the shape layout, theme images and builders, as well as their relationship with tomb culture, to investigate the influence of the layout, images, belief and political, economic, religious elements on the tombs murals of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang and further to reveal the status and role of the tomb murals in tomb culture. Specifically, this thesis will focus on the following questions:First, this is a systematic and comprehensive study on the Han Dynasty tomb murals in Luoyang for the first time, in order to cover the deficiencies of the research in this field and help people have a better understanding of the general and special characteristics of the Han Dynasty tomb murals in Luoyang.Second, with the research methodology and fruits of the culturology, sociology, and Iconology as reference, the thesis makes archaeological materials and historical documents confirm each other to seek for the relationship between the shape layout, theme images and main operator as well as their roles, functions and significance in the mural tombs in Luoyang region.Third, this thesis dynamically studies and investigates image style of the Han tomb murals in Luoyang from the point of overall development of the art history. While analyzing the portrait art of the Han Dynasty, this thesis also takes into account the formal contact between Han tomb mural images and dynasties before Qin and dynasties after Han, including Wei, Jin and South, North Dynasty.Fourth, the thesis, from the two dimensions of the ruling class and builders of tombs, discusses the interaction between the upper classes and the general knowledge, ideas and beliefs, and analyzes their "intersolubility" and deep-seated reasons in an attempt to outline the overall historical and cultural backgrounds of the tomb murals in Luoyang region.Finally, the thesis argues that tomb murals of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang are part of the tomb, and also are elements of people's funerals in the Han Dynasty. The central topic of these murals is how the living create for the dead "an eternal underground home" according to Han people's faith, such as "death service", "immortal soul ", "leading soul to the heaven", etc. The shapes of tombs, as well as the layout, themes and images of murals are all the embodiment of the above belief. Thereinto, on one hand the changes of tombs' shapes reflect the development of the outer coffin itself brings on the birth and maturity of chamber tombs. On the other hand, it is just the religion, class, culture and other external factors that affect and constraint the contents and shapes of chamber tombs of the Han Dynasty. The layouts of murals do not only incorporate the images and shapes of the relevant funerary apparatus, but also match with the shapes of tombs which imitate the house where the living live by the relief, such as "keeping away from evil spirits and goasts", "leading soul to the heaven", "the life on the heaven and underground".The themes and images of murals reveals the changes of the Han people's concept of tombs and the impact of politics, economy and other factors. Besides, they also draw other artistic elements before Xihan and Donghan Dynasty and influence the painting forms of Wei, Jin and South, North Dynasty and afterwards. As the important prefecture of the Western Dynasty and the capital of both the Xin Mang and the Eastern Dynasty, its tomb murals possibly represent a relatively high level of painters at that time. In addition, the collective consciousness of painters projects the concept of people and upper classes, which is the reaction and integration of upper ideas and general knowledge, as well as thoughts and beliefs.