1. History: Brick carving is a unique traditional architectural carving art in China. Its history can be traced back to ancient times, beginning with brick carving in Qin and Han Dynasties. The portrait brick uses contact printing method to form relief pattern on the brick blank. Said: "All skills are excellent. Linxia City, Gansu Province is located on the bank of Xiahe River in Longnan. The brick carving art here has formed a unique style with the Hui nationality as the main body and integrating the traditions of other nationalities. Linxia brick carving art evolved from brick carving and stone carving in ancestral halls, tombs, palaces and other buildings in the Han Dynasty. According to textual research, the brick carving art in Linxia area originated in the early Northern Song Dynasty, matured in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and perfected in modern times.
Due to the war, celebrity migration and other reasons, the early Linxia brick carving has been hard to find. At present, it mainly refers to the Song Dynasty BRIC tombs unearthed in Linxia, such as Hongyuan Road in Tongjiang Village of Deng Jiazhuang and Yangmazhuang in Hexian County. And 1980, the tomb of Emperor Ji Wang unearthed in Nanlong, Linxia, is a single-room brick carving with wooden roof and square tiles. There are various scenes of animals and people under cornices, arches and dripping water. Among them, flowers and animals are the most popular, such as lotus, peony, galloping horse, fire dragon, flying deer and unicorn. This is mainly the psychological expression of China folk auspicious patterns.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of brick carvings appeared, which were simple in style, rich in content and fine in craftsmanship. Linxia brick carving enjoys a high reputation in northwest China, showing the Islamic culture composed of Salar, Hui and Baoan. Islam is on the rise in China. Salar, Hui and Bao 'an are good at carving skills, and combine the traditional carving skills of Han nationality with Islamic culture to form a unique artistic style of brick carving. Brick carvings in Linxia are mainly used for the decoration of Gongbei and mosques, but most people also apply to their own houses. It is an important place of Hezhou Silk Road. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, merchants gathered. Because of the feudal hierarchy, "arches and colored decorations are not allowed in ordinary people's houses." Even if you have more property, you dare not use high-grade materials to build decorative houses. You must use bricks as materials and make various designs to install houses, mosques, etc. In order to show off wealth, it objectively promoted the development of brick carving art in Linxia.
Brick carving reached its peak in the Republic of China. Brick making and brick carving are of considerable scale. Linxia brick carving has absorbed the techniques of Chinese painting and wood carving, and its style has become exquisite and complicated. A work can be carved from several levels and its composition is rigorous. Larger works need a prominent back line. It is surrounded by very beautiful geometric patterns. The well-preserved works in modern times are in Linxia Oriental Mansion. It turned out to be the private residence of Ma, a political figure of the Hui nationality in Hexi during the Kuomintang rule. The structure of the house is mainly quadrangles. There are 189 pairs of large and small brick carvings on its wall. Many designs, promotions, flowers and birds, landscapes. Among them, Fu Zhi is a masterpiece. This work is 2.5 meters long and 2 meters high. It consists of 24 square bricks, 7 cm thick and 25 cm wide. It is located in the center of the largest brick carving in the shadow of the central wall of heaven.
The picture is a flaming sky, thousands of miles of rivers, towering mountains, lush pine trees and sparkling white sails, showing a magnificent motherland stretching across Wan Li. In addition, on the screen wall around the picture, there is a brick roof above, a carved base below, and big characters around. The whole work is impressive because of its magnificent length, rich pictures and superb skills.
Second, skills: in terms of techniques, the combination of carving and carving, or circular or semi-circular carving, can make it jump out of the picture, with distinct layers and strong three-dimensional sense. The minor parts and scenes are regarded as reliefs. Conceptually, the combination of realism and romanticism is used to express emotions and blend scenes. The materials used are taken from the exquisite "cotton cloth" specially used for kiln firing. It takes raw soil to make this kind of brick. First, wash the bricks with water on linen or fine mesh to remove impurities and sand particles, then mix them into mud, then make them into green bodies with wooden molds, and then enter the kiln for firing after drying. Bricks made of this soil have high density and moderate hardness, and are good materials for carving patterns.
The production process includes material selection, grinding, conception, molding, carving, fine grinding and watering. Mainly divided into kneading and carving. Kneading is to use the processed mud to make the required patterns by hand or mold, usually mainly dragons, phoenixes, flowers and birds, and then directly enter the kiln for firing. When used in corners and roofs, it is usually called "Echinoceros". Step 2: Carve carefully on the molded and fired blue bricks. Carving all kinds of patterns or patterns with carving knives requires strict and meticulous requirements, from composition to specific carving images. Images created in this way are very delicate, rich in texture and usually large in size. So a few small bricks should be spliced together. Architectural plane carving is mainly used to decorate shadow walls, walkways, stumps and doorways.
Carving tools mainly include: carving knives, planers, shovels, chisels, saws and so on. Among them, carving knives, shovels and chisels are divided into different types according to the technological requirements such as weight, size, length, width and blade thickness. Each tool has its own purpose, and there are no specific regulations. According to the manufacturer's preference and actual operation. Brick carving is characterized by shallow round carving and relief.
At the northern end of Hongyuan Square in Linxia, there is a brick corridor with a length of 80 meters, a height of 8 meters and an area of more than 600 square meters. The whole work consists of dozens of large brick carvings about 2 meters high and 4 meters long. It is a large group sculpture created by Kong Deliang, Chen Long, Mu and other teachers. With the theme of "Hezhou" designed by Kong Deliang, the picture vividly shows the whole picture of Hezhou, with lakes, mountains and stone forest peaks. On both sides of the screen, the "New Eight Scenery" in Hezhou is the content, which artistically shows the scenic spots and historical sites, local customs and great achievements in production and construction in Linxia. The whole team is harmonious, magnificent and magnificent.
3. Artistic features: Suzhou brick carving in Ming Dynasty is more primitive than that in Gu Zhuo, with Dongshan Mingshan Hall, Airuitang and Tianguanfang as typical representatives. After Kang and Gan in Qing Dynasty, the style gradually became delicate, rich and complex, emphasizing plot content and composition. Brick carvings in Linxia are Salar, Hui and Dongxiang nationalities who believed in Islam in Ming and Qing Dynasties. On the basis of traditional brick carving of Han nationality, they absorbed Islamic culture and integrated China landscape painting with Arabic characters and patterns. In modern times, it absorbed the technological characteristics of wood carving and clay sculpture, adopted a high degree of relief technology, realized the unity and harmony of content, form and style, and developed into a unique national art mainly in Linxia area.
Brick carving is usually used to decorate entrance doors, side walls, gables, shadow walls, five palace walls, circular revolving doors, bases, hammers, flower beds, animal heads, mounds and so on. The theme of the performance is rich and varied, poetic and full of life. The themes of lighting and wall-embedding are mostly the patterns of pines, cranes and deer representing longevity, and the noble implication of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. The themes that traditional literati like to express are also related to Linxia's good wishes for good luck and happiness.
Most modern brick carvings in Linxia are grand, quiet and simple. Although some brick carvings have developed from relief to decoration, three layers of decoration inside and outside, they lack the simple lines and swaying charm in the past. In addition, in terms of artistic thought, it is also an important feature to abide by Islamic law, oppose idolatry, and not see the characters in brick carvings.
Linxia brick carving, as a folk craft with a long history, has always been a combination of realism and romanticism. It expresses the thoughts and feelings of Islamic people such as Hui, Salar, Dongxiang and Baoan who love the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland and yearn for and pursue a happy life, and also shows the superb wisdom and artistic skills of working people.