Dataset of Wood Carving, Stone Carving, Colored Painting and Glass Decorative Patterns in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall of Henan Province, China

Su, J.

Antique Depository of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, Luoyang Museum of Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal, Henan, Luoyang 471000, China

Abstract: Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, located in Nanguan, Laocheng district of Luoyang, Henan province, has the history for more than 300 years with the investment of businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces in the early Qing dynasty. The wood carving, stone carving, colored painting and glass decorative patterns in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall are exquisite in craftsmanship and large in quantity. The dataset of wood carvings, stone carvings, colored paintings, and glazed decorative patterns exhibited in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall includes the following:(1) information table of wood carvings, stone carvings, color paintings, glazed decorative patterns containing their excavation location, serial number, name, thumbnail, type, period, and origin.(2) one aerial photo, 16 wood carving photos, 10 stone carving photos, 8 painted photos, and 8 glass decorative pattern photos. The dataset archived in .jpg and .xls formats, consists of 44 data files with data size of 69.1 MB (compressed into 1 file with a capacity of 69 MB).

Keywords: Luoyang; Shanshan Guildhall; wood carvings; colored paintings; decorative patterns

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2022.02.19

CSTR: https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.14.2022.02.19

Dataset Availability Statement:

The dataset supporting this paper was published and is accessible through the Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository at: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2021.12.02.V1 or https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.11.2021.12.02.V1.

1 Background

Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, located in Nanguan, Laocheng district of Luoyang, Henan province, has been built for more than 300 years with the investment of businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi province during the reign of Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng in the early Qing dynasty. Covering an area of more than 5,000 m², it is where people could establish personal connections, seek for information, worship Guangong, and transport commodities. In 2006, the guildhall was ranked as the state-level protected historic site. In 2012, in order to win the title of world cultural heritage site and intensively display the relics of the Grand Canal in Luoyang, the local government founded Luoyang Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal Museum on the basis of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall. Located on the north of Luohe river, its ancient buildings with carved beams and painted pillars, looking splendid and magnificent, were used not only for business purposes but also for cultural exchanges. What’s more, Luoyang, located in the Central Plains and also known as “the heartland of China”, has always been the distribution center of commodities in western Henan. The Luohe section of the Grand Canal built by Emperor Yang of Sui dynasty was still in use till the Ming and Qing dynasties, and contributed to the economic and cultural development in the region.

2 Metadata of the Dataset

The metadata summary of the Dataset of wood carving, stone carving, painted and glazed decorative patterns of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall^[1] is listed in Table 1.

Table 1  Metadata summary of the Dataset of wood carving, stone carving, colored painting and glass decoration pattern on Luoyang Shanshan Guild Hall

3 Data Results

This dataset refers to the digital collections of existing woodcarving, stone carving, painting, and colored glaze stored in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall in Luoyang, Henan province, totaling 43 made in the early Qing dynasty (Table 2).

Table 2  Statistics of wood carving, stone carving, painting, and colored glaze stored in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall of Henan

3.1 Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall

Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall is one of the few complexes in the early Qing dynasty well preserved in western Henan province. Characterized by the architectural design, style, and decoration, the main building and overall pattern of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall are in good condition and arranged orderly. Inside the guildhall, there is the only glazed screen wall of two dragons playing pearls in western Henan, the stone pillars inside the museum exquisitely carved, and the gold-colored Xuanzi paintings that are largest in coverage and best preserved of Qing dynasty in the Central Plains, which are of great value in cultural heritage and artistic research.

The remaining buildings in the museum mainly refer to the glazed screen wall of two dragons playing pearls, the east-west wooden arched doors, the main gate with splayed walls, theater stages with Xieshan style in the rear and hipped roof on the front, Baidian, the main hall and the east-west side halls, the east-west corridor rooms, as well as more than ten stone-carved lions. The existing wood and stone carvings, the colored paintings, and glazes in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall are all well done, great in quantity and magnificent in appearance. In the dataset is kept with the images of a large collection of stone carving, painting, glaze decorative patterns in the early Qing dynasty, which is of great value for studying the art and folk culture of Luoyang at that time.

The architectural decorative patterns in the guildhall are mainly made on wood carvings, stone carvings, colored paintings, and glazed pieces, which become the symbols of good luck, longevity, wealth, peace, blessing, and auspiciousness. All of these are collectively referred to as auspicious patterns. At present, the word “auspiciousness” originates from the saying “if a human is like an empty house, free from dust and dirt, he will be full of sunshine in the heart and blessed with auspiciousness”^[3]selected from Zhuangzi ž The World. As a form of art created by Chinese working people, auspicious pattern that originated in Shang and Zhou dynasties, started in Qin and Han dynasties, developed in Tang and Song dynasties, and matured in Ming and Qing dynasties, is fully appreciated in China at present. The custom of using auspiciousness-related sentences and proverbs, and mythological stories embodied with many kinds of rhetoric figures such as analogy, pun, symbolize, metaphor and so on, has been handed down to us and carries good wishes of people, which makes them the symbols of Chinese folk culture.

3.2 Wood Carvings in the Hall

Wood carvings in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall are characterized by their superb craftsmanship and a variety of themes, and present audience with ingenious artistic effect from the focused or scattered perspective. The wood carvings of the guildhall are mainly applied to Queti, hangers, Dougong, and architrave, making them look even more stunning and magnificent. The patterns of two dragons playing pearls on Xiyi Gate and Dongyi Gate are presented by high relief and openwork carving (Figure 2). The pattern of two dragons playing pearls has become one of the symbols that can best state traditional Chinese culture. According to the explanation of Origin of Chinese Characters, dragon, the leader of the squamosa animals, can go to the dark and light place, is able to become larger and diminish, elongate and shorten, and will fly in the sky at the spring equinox and ducked underwater at the autumn equinox^[4]. As for spiders, it has the similar appearance to Chinese character “蟢”, a homophone to “喜” meaning good luck and happiness in English. A spider has eight legs, a homophone to “发” in Chinese or making a large fortune. A large number of businessmen always gather in Shanshan Guidehall, hoping to have booming business and big fortune coming from every corner. As a result, the Chinese people in ancient times gave spiders many names that were auspicious and pleasant, such as “Xizi”, “Xitian” and so on. When spiders are set in temples or halls, they usually called “Biqian”, which represents money that can walk on the wall.

In the theater of Luoyang Shanshan Guidehall, almost every wood piece is carved. For those architraves in second room in the east and in the west, and the outer room, they are vividly presented by openwork, high relief and round sculpture. The carved unicorn and lion are distributed symmetrically on architrave in second room in the east and in the west, and the unicorn looks like turning back and running with cloud under its feet, while the lion steps on the ball and faces forward, looking charming and naïve (Figure 3, 4). There are peonies surrounding the two beasts, making them vivid, lively, and interesting. In ancient Chinese mythology are the top five auspicious beasts, including dragon, phoenix, turtle, unicorn, and Pixiu. Unicorn, generated by the god of the stars, is a combination of lion’s head, deer’s antlers, tiger’s eyes, elk’s body, dragon’s scales, and ox’s tail looking like that of a dragon. Therefore, it is regarded as jinnee by people in ancient times. It is written in Book of Song that unicorn, with the female called Qi and the male Lin, is a kind of animal that symbolizes auspiciousness and bring people peace, longevity, blessing, and happiness^[5]. There is a poem saying “once unicorn comes down to the world on the auspicious clouds, and any difficulty will disappear.”^[5].

Lion, which represent courage and protector against evil spirits, is also homophonic to “Taishi”, “Shaoshi”, meaning to get a promotion. As the king among all beasts, lion, strong and imposing, acts as a mount of Manjusri Bodhisattva in Buddhism and also a symbol of warding off evil spirits. Meanwhile, the silk-made ball, looking bright and colorful, also represents good luck and auspiciousness especially in the traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, indicating that good things should be in pairs. In that way, the pattern of a lion playing with a ball can be regarded as a symbol of eliminating evil and staying away from disasters. As a folk saying goes, “a lion rolls a silk-made ball, and good things will come after it.”.

The earliest record of the lion comes from a Chinese literature Notes on a View of the Eastern Han Dynasty, stating “a lion is like a tiger, yellow, with a beard and a hairy tail”^[6]. It is written in History of the Han Dynasty ž a Biography of the Western Regions that on Mount Wuge are and peach trees, lion, and rhinoceros^[7]. Meng Kang was quoted as the saying as what recorded in Notes on a View of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is proved that lion was introduced to China by people from the Western Regions along the Silk Road in Eastern Han Dynasty. According to the records in History of the Han Dynasty ž Book of Rites and Music, lion dance was popular among the people in the Han dynasty. In the lion dance, two people act as a lion; one waving the lion head and the other waving the lion body and tail^[7]. Another person is needed to hold a silk ball to play with the lion, such practice has become the material for the decorative pattern of lion rolling silk-made ball.  

The Queti wood carving in the east of Wulou is made by openwork carving, high relief, shallow relief and round carving. There is a pattern showing an unicorn playing with a phoenix in the middle, where the unicorn keeps running from the left with cloud under its feet while the phoenix keeps flying from the right with cloud under its wings. There is also a temple with a door unlatched, and two roosters crowing on the two sides of mountains. These auspicious beasts and clouds are well-carved and breathtaking as natural as though it were living. The temple faces up to Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, which shows that the Guild Hall is an auspicious holy place and a land of treasures. Phoenix, also called phoenix emperor, is actually a mythical bird in China. It is recorded in The Classic of Mountains and Seas ž Classic of Great Wilderness that phoenix is a bird with colorful feathers, named either Huangniao, or Luanniao or Fengniao^[8]. According to The Classic of Mountains and Seas ž Classic of China, the bird grows in the northeast of the State of Mo and all stands facing up eastwards, with the plumage mixed red, yellow and cyan^[8]. Phoenix was firstly seen as far back as the reign of Emperor Shun, and became the symbol of prosperity and achievement. Rooster, in Chinese traditional culture, is homophonic with the word “吉” or auspiciousness. From ancient times to the present, where there is crowing of a rooster and the barking of a dog, there will be the place where people live. Meanwhile, the crowing of the rooster implies auspiciousness, promising future, and motivation. In The Book of Songs are the sayings such as “it blows and rains as in a dark night, and the rooster crows unceasingly”, “as the rooster crows, the sun will rise and a day will start”^[9], which has been cited in Mao Zedong’s poems. The tune about the rooster crowing are omnipresent in many literary works. 

In ancient times, the rooster is called a bird of virtue, or phoenix among the folks. In The Biography of Han’s Poems^[10] is summed up with five virtues of the rooster, namely, civility, chivalrousness, courage, benevolence, and faithfulness. It means that rooster has many merits, with comb representing the literary talent, protruding toe representing its proficiency in martial arts, aggressiveness representing bravery, chirping other chickens come over to eat together which represents its benevolence and righteousness, crowing on time indicating its punctuality. The crowing of the rooster is important for Chinese to mark the time. As the crowing happens, the sun will rise up from the east, meaning that day and night alternate. In that way, the rooster becomes an important symbol of timing morning and dusk, and gradually evolves to be a sign of diligence, punctuality and responsibility. There are a lot of set phrases that have already come into our lives, such as “rise up upon hearing the crow of a rooster and practice with the sword”, “posing as a rooster standing on one foot”, etc.

3.3 Stone Carvings in the Hall

A variety of techniques, such as round carving, relief carving, flat carving, openwork carving, and line carving are alternately applied in stone carvings of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, filled with locality and artistic design. The gate and Wulou of the Hall are carved with extremely vivid patterns of grass-made dragon and creeping grass by using relief carving and flat carving. The artistic grass dragon has its head similar to that of a dragon, and a body, a tail, and claws made of grass, hence the name. In fact, the dragon pattern originated from the dragon pattern in royal court, which has been widely used in various bronze ritual vessels since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. However, in the feudal society, the royal family banned it among the folks and people had to abstract it to be a cloud with single line, which became rather popular in Ming and Qing dynasties and widely used on buildings, vessels, and furniture. It was regarded to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to people.

Curling grass pattern, known as creeping grass pattern or rolled-leaf pattern and upgraded from honeysuckle pattern, is a typical one in Wulou of Luoyang Shanshan Guidehall, and features a continuous decorative belt of grass leaf pattern with soft wavy lines. Its composition is similar to that of twining branches and stems that get deformed in a continuous wave state. Combined by the wavy and tangential lines, it will spread in two directions and the wave will come into being, and then comes to another regular leaves or stems forming of basic changes of tangential lines, and finally becomes a decorative pattern with twisted branches and tendrils^[11].

The creeping weed is very beautiful, and gradually replaces the honeysuckle pattern and is widely used in various decorations especially in the Sui and Tang dynasties, which has earned the name of Tangcao. The decorative creeping weed, as its name implies, is the vine that looks like grass keeping growing and extending. Therefore, it becomes the symbol of longevity and prosperity^[12].  

The stone pillars in Luoyang Shanshan Guidehall are varied in the shapes, with the drum-shaped pillars in Wulou, and lotus-shaped pillars in corridor, and beast-shaped pillars in Baidian and Main Hall (Figure 5, 6). The techniques such as openwork, high relief and round carving are applied, which make them more beautiful and vivid, for example, the carvings of lions and elephants look powerful, lively, and lifelike. The carved elephants and unicorns on the peripheral pillars outside the Main Hall, brought to life, are placed in between and demonstrate the wonderful thoughts of workers^[13]. The elephant or “象” is homonymous with the Chinese character“祥”, a symbol of auspiciousness in the Han nationality and a sign of power among the Dai people. Elephants have been used by the Chinese people for a long time. According to records of Mister Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals • Chapter of Guyue^[14], “people begun to use elephants to fight against their enemy, and the Shang dynasty even trained a huge elephant army, which was finally defeated by Duck Zhou and driven all the way to the south China in the Shang dynasty”. Although elephants are strong and powerful, they are moderate in temper, honest and reliable, can travel afar with heavy loads, and become the symbol of good luck and power, which help to earn the name of virtue among the beasts.

3.4 Colored Paintings in the Hall

There are colored paintings on beams, columns, arches, purlins, rafters, eaves and foreheads in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall, most of which are gold pointing of the original Xuanzi of Qing dynasty painted on auspicious beasts, golden dragons (Figure 7), peonies, flowers and multi-treasure items, etc. Until now, they are still bright and shining.

Figure 7  Painting in the Middle of the West Beam in the Wulou

In the hall of worship or Baidian, there are decorative patterns of dragon wearing peony and peony flowers in the middle of the seven-frame beam on the east side of the east room and the double-step beam on the north slope (Figure 8). With techniques of leaching powder and pasting gold applied, they are exquisite and beautiful. Peony, in Chinese traditional culture, implies richness and colorfulness. As far as peony is concerned, its flowers are elegant and beautiful, indicating people’s yearning for a better life and a brighter future. Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang dynasty, praised it by saying “the peony, the intoxicating beauty, never fails to create a furor in the imperial city when it begins to bloom”^[15]. Therefore, it is regarded by businessmen as a symbol of wealth, auspiciousness, happiness and prosperity. After the Tang and Song dynasties, peony has become a symbol of good fortune, happiness and prosperity, and has become increasingly popular. In 1959, Premier Zhou Enlai came to Luoyang and said, “Peony is the national flower of our country. It is elegant and magnificent, and it is the symbol of prosperity, beauty and happiness of our Chinese nation” ^[16].

Figure 8  Painting in the middle of Qijialiang in the second room of Baidian

3.5 Colored Glaze in the Hall

Colored glaze in Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall is more commonly seen on walls and roofs (Figure 9–13). The hip roof of the fifth floor in the south is the highest. The main roof has a shape of both dragon and phoenix, and each roof has different kinds of glaze decorations, most of which are about peonies, dragons, phoenixes and so on. Meanwhile, there are statues of supernatural beings and beasts on the eaves.

The glazed wall with patterns of two dragons playing pearls is best preserved and the largest one in the Central Plains of China, with the height of 7.6 m and the width of 13.4 m. The“凸”-shaped wall is made up of three patterns, including “a lion playing with its baby” in the east, “a dragon playing a ball in the cloud” in the west, and “two dragons playing pearls” in the middle. The techniques such as high relief, round carving, openwork, bas-relief and line carving are applied for the wall carved with patterns including lucky plants and beasts. In Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall is the glazed wall ranked as one of wonders. On the pattern of two dragons playing pearls, dragon, used to symbolize good fortune, is a kind of supernatural beings in the myths and legends from China and other areas of East Asia. It is characterized by nine likenesses. Legend has it that a dragon can be visible or invisible, thin or giant, short or long, and it will fly up to heaven in the spring and dive in the autumn, taking control of wind and rain. In Book of Rites ž Part 9 of Liyun^[17], dragon, phoenix, turtle and unicorn are called “Top 4 Animals”. The pattern of two dragons playing pearls means that two dragons stand opposite to each other and play a pearl, which represent the egg of dragon.

4 Conclusion

The architectural artistic design of Luoyang Shanshan Guildhall is owed to the hard working and intelligent people in ancient times. It is of great value to study the carving, painting and glazed technology in the early Qing dynasty, which fully reflect the way of thinking of merchants from Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. The decorative patterns also become the showcase of the unique folk customs and customs of the Chinese nation.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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