Study On Joinery Works Of "Zi Ren Yi Zhi"

Joinery works recorded in Zi Ren Yi Zhi(referred as the the ZRYZ below)include such contents as the shape and size,materials and power limits of the panelled door and the plank door,which is a model of the civil residence door system in the Song and Jin dynasties.The panelled door features standardized composition of proportions,diverse linghua patterns and flexible curve-carrving methods of wood and kunmen decorations on the water barrier board are formalized,the shape and structure of the plank door mature,and the components ornamental,which lays an important foundation for the final specifications of the door system in the Ming and Qing dynasties.In the Song and Jin dynasties,the panelled doors of civil residences presented a mixed transitional state.The shape and structure characteristic of a combination of the panelled door,the plank door,and the ruanmen could be commonly seen,featuring flexible composition and complex decoration.The occurrence of such concrete components as Duonaochuan and Cujiaochuan meant an evolution of the panelled door to such models as thefive-or-six-window-stool partition doors with changes in composition proportion and door frames,etc.Diverse linghua patterns of the lattices complement the theme on lattices of doors in THE ZRYZ,which applied some popular patterns in Song and Jin dynasties as tortoiseshell veins,Svastika patterns,plant patterns,star patterns,silver-ignot patterns and Fangsheng patterns as well as mullions and tilted lattice frame,usually in the form of combination,in the hope of continual reproduction,happy married life and continuous wealth.Components of Kunmen and jiaoti on the water barrier boards become modeled.Based on religious kunmen modelling and the composition of the medium door and patterns in color painting system,the components with a stylized model of combination of pointed arch,arc,curling grass patterns and Ruyi patterns have come into being,whose standardized composition and elegant decoration make kunmen and angular substitutes a kind of high-grade decorative pattern and applied into building construction and furniture manufacturing.The plain plank door,whose features are different from those of the official plank doors,is a common choice of civil residences and small official buildings with such decorative components as vertical lintels,door frames,etc.The recorded zhuandaomen with magnificent embellishment can date back to the pre-Tang Dynasty,whose decorative patterns have evolved from exotic religious twined grapevine patterns,curling grass patterns to modeling patterns like peonyand lotus.Components of the plank door are inclined to decorating,for example,decorative cylinders developing from round,square and quatrefoil in the early Song Dynasty to cloud shape,realistic floral patterns,sexfoil,and the character“米” pattern;appliques of the chassis with a ring handle on the doors developing from animal head in Han and Tang dynasties to sex-linghua and octagonal linghua;doornails no longer confined to common wire nails with various three-dimensional petal nails appearing.