中国古代雕塑的装饰传统

The Decorative Tradition of Ancient Chinese Sculpture

打开中国古代雕塑艺术的历史画卷,我们发现中国古代雕塑最明显的特征和最伟大的成就就是鲜明的装饰性。这主要表现在佛教雕塑(石窟造像、摩崖造像、寺庙彩塑、小型金铜佛像、石雕造像碑)、陵墓雕塑(陵前大石雕、墓中小陶俑)、工艺雕刻(玉石雕刻、象牙雕刻、骨角雕刻、竹雕、木雕、石雕)、建筑装饰雕塑(石雕、木雕、砖雕、琉璃雕塑)、民间彩塑(泥塑、画塑)等,几乎囊括古代雕塑的各个方面。 中国古代雕塑的装饰性贯穿了整个中国古代雕塑史,形成了一条伟大辉煌的装饰传统。

If we open the historical picture scroll of ancient Chinese sculptural art, we'll find that the most notable feature and the greatest achievement of ancient Chinese sculpture is its distinctive nature of decoration. This mainly lies in Buddhist sculptures (mainly bas-reliefs in grottoes, bas-reliefs on precipices, colored sculptures in temples, small-size bronze figures of Buddha, carved stone tablets), tomb sculptures (large-size carved stones in front of tombs, small-size pottery figurines in tombs), artistic sculptures (jade carving, ivory carving, horn carving, bamboo carving, wood carving and stone carving), building decoration sculptures (stone carving, wood carving, brick carving, azure stone carving), folk colored sculptures (clay and painted sculptures), almost covering each aspect of ancient sculptural art. This article aims to give a brief introduction to the decorative tradition of ancient Chinese sculpture.The works of different dynasties that are the most typical representation of such a tradition include tomb sculptures in the Qin and Han dynasties, Buddhist sculptures in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties. With the all-round development of sculpture in the Sui, Tang and the Five dynasties, great achievements were made in all respects. These are the golden times in the Chinese history of sculpture. The sculpture in the Tang Dynasty reaches the summit of China's sculptural history. It is classified into two major categories: Buddhist sculpture and tomb sculpture. It is then followed by the colored sculpture in the Liae and Jin dynasties, and later by the folk sculpture in the Ming and Qing dynasties.As what is said in my work entitled History of Chinese Murals, 'China enjoys a long history of art. It has many great achievements and good traditions. One of these is the tradition of decoration, which is also the most important and distinctive tradition. It is most obviously reflected in murals, fine- brushwork scrolls, prints, New Year pictures, sculptures, arts and crafts, architectural and religious arts, court art and folk art. It can also be found in operas, literature and other fields. Unlike the European art which has long been fettered by the objective reality (excluding medieval and modernist arts', the tradition of decoration in China is free from the limitations of the objective world by placing emphasis on subjective perception and beauty of form.