A Preliminary Study On The Patterns And Functions Of The Stone Slips Of Han Dynasty

Dragon Bi-disk motif can be widely seen in the Han-dynasty art, especially on the brick and stone relifs. By collecting all the images, and with the help of typology method of archaeology and iconography, this article is an attempt to discuss about the types, sequence, and the essential significance of Dragon Bi-disk motif.On the basis of the feature of two dragons and the way they interact with Bi-disk, Dragon Bi-disk motif can be divided into two types. Type A is most founded at the middle of Shanxi and Henan. In other words, it is mainly spread at areas that was influenced by the brick and stone relifs of Nanyang style. Type B is most founded at southern Shandong, north Jiangsu, north Anhui and eastern Henan. A few are also founded at the middle and north of Henan.Type A practically had no changes since Xin Dynasty to the midterm and late of Eastern Han Dynasty. While type B not only developed more types, but also spread to more areas.On the basis of the way of dragon, tiger and Bi-disk interact, Dragon tiger Bi-disk can be divided into two types. From the view of compositon, type A was showed as "dragon+Bi-disk+tiger", and type B was a fixed collocation which was showed as "dragon+Bi-disk"+"tiger+Bi-disk". Type B was originated from type A, and the variation reflects the interaction between images and its carrier.Based on the context of Dragon Bi-disk motif, it is not hard to find out that most Dragon Bi-disk motif were at the entranceways of graves. The essential meaning and function of Dragon Bi-disk motif is as the symbol of "boundary" and "passageway". Besides, the motif has the meaning of "guide" and "guard".Dragon tiger Bi-disk was mostly spread at midterm and late Eastern Han Dynasty, and mainly founded at Sichuan province, which probably have some connections with the development of Han-Dynasty art in Sichua and the early art of Taoism at the time.