| Vatan (eaves tile) was used as a small architectural components attached to the eaves of ancient Chinese buildings, that is, the sagging part of the pantile. Its role was to protect the sally of the eaves from the erosion of wind and rain, as well as beautify the construction. Vatan Art is a kind of decorative arts that combined ancient architectural design and manufacturing technique. According to archaeological data, Vatan was firstly made in middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty. In the beginning it's vacant, with no pattens, and gradually developed into the re-ringed Vatan. When flowers' and animals' drawings emerged, Vatan was gradually enriched. Some of the beautiful patterns and unique letterings were also loved by many collectors, making Vatan a kind of valuable collection. Of course, the significance of Vatan lies not only as a kind of collection,but as a part of ancient buildings, its production process, materials, patterns and letterings on the surface have become a basis for scientific analysis. For example, according to the patterns and letterings on the unearthed Vatan, we can queue the phase, understand the development of roof tiles, so as to study the respective characteristic of the culture of each time. We can determine the nature and age of the buildings according to the letterings and study the designs and techniques considering the patterns. We can study the development and changes of ancient writings, etc. In short, "Vatan occupies significant position in archeology, ancient architecture, ancient philology, art history and other disciplines."To learn more about Vatan, we must first understand the ancient Chinese architecture, as Vatan is one of the constructional components used on eaves of buildings. Ancient Chinese buildings were based on civil engineering structures and it took a long process to the usage of bricks and tiles. As the main material of palace buildings, the invention and usage of tile is a milestone in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.Ancient Chinese culture is profound and has a long history, while ancient Chinese architecture, which is unique and occupies an important position in the world, has a long history, constant style and its own marked characteristics. These ancient buildings are the crystallization of the art creation of ancient Chinese working people, as well as the witness of ancient civilization. However,meanwhile, Vatan, as elements of architectural decoration, also witnessed the development of Chinese architecture. The decoration on the surface varied greatly with time, land and style of the buildings. Ancient Chinese buildings were mainly based on wooden structures. As the main material of palaces, temples, houses and other buildings,the creation and usage of Vatan is really a pioneering work in the history of Chinese architecture. When Vatan was firstly used is hard to know because it was rarely documented. According to the record of Kao Gong Ji and Han Fei Zi, palaces of Shang Dynasty were built from couch grass and earth, with no sign of tiles. To the Western Zhou period, the palaces' housing construction had began to use tile, which can be shown from the fact that tiles, including Slate, Pantile, Vatan and so on, were unearthed in Shaanxi Fufeng Zhaochen Western Zhou Dynasty Relics. The usage of Vatan wasn't popular until Chun-Chiu Period. After the unification of China in Qin Dynasty, there was a period of great fusion of different styles all over the country, leading to a common style which mostly successed the patten of late Warring States Period. Those pattens had endless variations, but are mainly animals and wind. Vatan was further developed in Han Dynasty and came to prosperity. the decorational style of Vatan changed from concrete to abstract, realism to romance. Vatan reflecting the agricultural and pastoral life gradually reduced, while those themed four Gods became very popular. The design payed great attention on wind and geometric pattern, in the mean time the lettering also flourished. The writings ranged from two-word to multi-word, with abundant vocabulary and layout. Vatan Art reached its heyday. There was a falling trend fter Eastern Han Dynasty, Vatan Art gradually declined, leaving single pattern. Later in Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the art was trapped into morass. Without any innovation, Yuan exclusively took the pattern of beasts'faces. When it came to Ming and Qing, the royal adopted tiles of colored glaze, with pattens of cloud and dragons. The development of roof tiles stagnated down.Nowadays, we need to re-understand, innovate, and endow Vatan Art with new cultural characteristics of the new era, and try our best to bring the architectural culture of Chinese character to a great height of development.
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