Brick is one of the earliest pottery in ancient China, but in the imagination of ordinary people, it has always been regarded as the brick of a house. Not really. Bricks of houses are inherent, but most of them are used for tomb decoration. House bricks are plain without grain, and those with grain and words belong to tomb bricks, which are now collectively referred to as portrait bricks. Portrait bricks have always been cherished by academic circles, art circles and Tibetan circles, and even their rubbings have become a hard-to-find "treasure", and many elegant celebrities collect inscriptions.
Portrait bricks originated in the Warring States Period, matured in Qin Dynasty and worked in Han Dynasty. In ancient China, people believed that the soul would not die after death, and death was the result of the soul leaving the body. People should be reburied after death, so that their souls can ascend to heaven. Portrait brick is the product of the custom of thick burial at that time. The tombs in this period gradually evolved from wooden tombs in the Warring States period to brick tombs. Therefore, people use ordinary bricks and hollow bricks to build tombs and decorate them with portrait bricks. Especially in the Han Dynasty, due to the prevalence of Taoist immortal thought, it had a great influence on the funeral customs of the Han Dynasty.
Han Dynasty portrait brick is an artistic treasure integrating ancient sculpture, painting and calligraphy. Together with the stone relief, it constitutes the double wall of painting art in Han Dynasty. ..
It can be said that a Han brick is a kind of culture, from which we can hear the killing of the ancient Jin Goma iron. Even an understated decoration tells the vicissitudes and glory of history.
Ya 'an, with the reputation of "hometown of cultural relics in Han Dynasty", has many cultural relics, but not many of them can enter the homes of ordinary people, except Han bricks.
Most of the Han Dynasty portrait bricks in China flourished in the Han Dynasty. Now it has been unearthed in Henan, Sichuan, Jiangsu and other provinces. Portrait bricks in the Han Dynasty were often used for the decoration of mausoleum buildings. At that time, the custom of reburying dignitaries was popular in the world. In the tomb, death comes into life, and if the room is dark, it pursues the unity of heaven and man, the unity of heaven and man, and the integration of sculpture and painting, becoming a portrait brick of Han Dynasty.
The theme of Han Dynasty portrait brick is "to inspire and help others", which is quite rich in Confucian and Taoist philosophy. The common ones are Fuxi, Nuwa, Dong, and the Queen Mother of the West, who travel in chariots, are loyal ministers and dutiful sons, heroic women and virgins, street figures, fishing, farming, gardening, animals and plants, and calligraphy, which profoundly reflect the politics and economy of the Han Dynasty. In the form of artistic creation and production, the shapes are huge, thin, square or flat. Carving techniques include film carving, imprint reproduction, yin line and yang line carving, as well as relief and line carving. Different regional styles and unearthed places are beautiful. It is a treasure in the history of art and a treasure in the world art treasure house.