Overview of herringbone with cross braces

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-01-29

In Nanjing Xiamafang Park, there is a square stone carving component, carved on all sides of the imitation wooden structure, such as the pillars, columns, doors and windows, etc., the era is ancient, but there is no text information, perhaps it is a component from a stone tower.

The herringbone is applied between the column head paving of the small stone tower, although there is no herringbone in the existing wooden structure buildings of the Tang Dynasty in our country, but there are a large number of herringbone in the mural and masonry imitation wood building, the herringbone on this small stone tower is different, and there is a cross brace between the herringbone, which is relatively rare.

Herringbone with cross brace].

It is good to sort out the herringbone with horizontal braces to deduce the approximate age of the small stone pagoda.

There is a group of stone tomb doors in the Nanjing Six Dynasties Museum, unearthed in the tomb of the Southern Dynasty in Daputang Village, Lingshan, Qixia District, the tomb owner may be the clan of the Qiliang period, and a big herringbone is carved at the lintel, and there is a cross brace in the middle.

Six Dynasties Museum Stone Tomb Gate].

A herringbone with a cross brace on the door

There is also a stone tomb door in the style of the Southern Dynasties in Nanjing White Horse Park, and the lintel is carved with a herringbone with a cross brace.

Hakuba Park Stone Tomb Gate].

Herringbone with cross brace].

The Nanjing Museum has a stone lintel with a herringbone with a cross brace.

Nanjing Museum Stone Tomb Gate].

Not far from Nanjing, Danyang Huqiao Southern Dynasty tomb also has a herringbone with a cross brace, this tomb has been excavated by archaeology, no epitaph was found, the history is uploaded to the Southern Qi Jing Emperor Xiao Daosheng Xiu'an Mausoleum, Xiao Daosheng is the elder brother of Xiao Daocheng, the founding emperor of Qi in the Southern Dynasty, the father of Xiao Luan, Emperor Qi Ming, there is a pair of mythical beasts in front of the tomb.

Huqiao Tomb herringbone, **from "Jiangsu Danyang Huqiao Southern Dynasty Tomb and Brick Carved Murals"].

Xiao Daosheng cultivates the Anling Divine Beast].

There is also a herringbone with a cross brace on the tomb door of the tomb of the Southern Dynasty in Jinjia Village, Danyang, this tomb has not found an epitaph, and there is still a pair of mythical beasts preserved on the ground, which is now called the stone carving of the tomb of King Chen Chen.

Jinjia Village Tomb Gate, **From "Two Southern Dynasty Tombs of Huqiao and Jianshan in Danyang County, Jiangsu"].

Stone carvings of the tomb of King Chen Chen].

Check the archaeological excavation report, there are many tombs in the Southern Dynasty around Nanjing with herringbone lintels, although some reports do not ** and do not mention whether there is a cross brace between the herringbones, but considering that there are cross braces in the real objects seen, it can be known that there should be all of them, and the herringbone lintel with cross braces is a popular style in the Southern Dynasties.

Since these herringbones are all heavy friezes underneath, which are the same as the small stone towers, it can be seen that the herringbone is represented rather than a forked hand.

In the ninth year of Kaihuang (589), Emperor Wen of Sui eliminated Nanchen, and the Southern Dynasty ceased to exist.

In the 10th year of Emperor Kaihuang of Sui Kaihuang (590 years) in Anyang, Henan, there are two herringbones with horizontal braces in the sarcophagus bed screen line carved building.

The herringbone of the tomb of Luqing with a cross brace, **from the excavation of the joint burial tomb of the husband and wife of the Sui Dynasty in Anyang, Henan].

The tomb of Tongguan Village in Shaanxi Province is inferred to be the Sui Dynasty, and there are also herringbones with horizontal braces in the mural buildings.

The herringbone with a cross brace in the tomb of the tax village, **from the Shaanxi volume of the complete collection of murals unearthed in China].

Wei Guifei of Tang Taizong died in the second year of Tang Linde (665), and there is a herringbone with a cross brace in the tomb.

Wei Guifei's tomb with a crossbrace

Shaanxi Liquan Wei Guifei Tomb].

Tang Taizong's Yan Defei was Wu Zetian's aunt and cousin, died in the second year of Tang Xianheng (671), the tomb murals have a herringbone with a horizontal brace, Yan Defei's Shinto tablet and epitaph are collected in the Zhaoling Museum.

The herringbone of the tomb of Yan Defei with a cross brace, **from the "Complete Collection of Chinese Unearthed Murals" Shaanxi Volume].

Zhaoling Museum Yandefei Shinto Monument].

The princess of Xincheng is the young daughter of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who died in the third year of Longshuo (663), and there are also herringbones with horizontal braces in the murals of the tomb.

The herringbone of the tomb of the princess of the new city with a cross brace, **from "Danqing on the Wall: Collection of Unearthed Murals in Shaanxi"].

Shaanxi Liquan New City Princess Tomb].

Shaanxi Qianxian Yide Prince Tomb is buried Tang Zhongzong Li Xian's eldest son Li Chongrun, Wu Zetian abdicated after the second year of Shenlong (706) reburial, the tomb mural has a herringbone with a cross brace.

The tomb of Prince Yide has a horizontal brace herringbone].

Tomb of Prince Yide in Qianxian County, Shaanxi].

Shanxi Taiyuan Helian Mountain Tomb, died in the fourth year of Tang Kaiyuan (716), the tomb has a herringbone with a cross brace.

Herringbone with a cross brace in the tomb of Helian Mountain

The Tang tomb of Shanxi Taiyuan Coking Plant is inferred to be the Wuzhou period, and there are also herringbones with cross braces.

The herringbone with cross brace in the Tang tomb of Taiyuan coking plant, **from the Shanxi volume of the complete collection of murals unearthed in China].

The overall application proportion of herringbone with cross brace is not high, but the continuation time is very long, the cross brace herringbone around Nanjing mainly appeared in the Southern Dynasties, but it does not mean that the small stone tower is also the Southern Dynasty, the status of Nanjing declined sharply after the unification of the Sui Dynasty, it should be the reason why the lintel herringbone did not appear again, but it is still possible to build small buildings such as stone towers, combined with the time period when the cross brace herringbone appeared, the dating of the small stone tower should be more stable from the Southern Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty, and it is expected that there will be more evidence to further refine its era in the future.

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