Research On The Style Of Hu Warriors In The Two Capitals Of Sui And Tang Dynasties

The tomb figures are an important part of ancient Chinese sculpture,and there are many historical relics and related literatures.However,compared with the study of grotto statues and mausoleum sculptures in the past dynasties,their study has been neglected.This paper takes the style of the Hu figurines in the Sui and Tang Dynasties as the research object;Changan and Luoyang are the political,economic and cultural centers of the Sui and Tang Dynasties,with the most developed material culture and social thought,and they are the key areas for the formation of ancient Chinese culture and the silk road culture;the most popular Hu figurines are made in the two areas,which was imitated by other places because of their exquisite workmanship.As a unique form of burial objects in ancient times,Hu figurines emerged with the opening of the Silk Road,carrying a large amount of rich information about ancient Chinese social life,customs,aesthetic arts,cultural exchanges between China and the West.It is of important historical and practical significance to study the art of Hu figurines.Hu figurines are the artistic carrier of Hu people.The definition of Hu is not only a complex linguistic issue,but also a long-standing historical issue.This paper combs and summarizes the connotation of Hu’s concept in different historical periods in ancient times and the situation of Hu people coming to China in the Sui and Tang Dynasties,which found that there were seven types of Hu people in Changan and Luoyang regions:Hu people who settled in the two areas since Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties;Hu people who came for business or missionary work in these regions since Sui and Tang Dynasties;the leaders of the Hu people in the Sui and Tang Dynasties;the protons of nephews sent to China by the ethnic minority countries on the border;the slaves of the Hu people;the foreign scholars and overseas students who came to China to exchange;and the mercenaries.After analyzing and discussing the reasons for the popularity of Hu figurines in the two-capital regions,it was found that the historical reason lied in the custom of burying them in tombs in China since ancient times.The direct cause was the high integration of Hu culture with Tang culture,and the indirect cause was the popularity of an elaborate funeral in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.This article demonstrates the origin of the style of the figurines in the two dynasties,and finds that their style was formed on the basis of absorbing and drawing lessons from the ancient figurines.During the Sui and Tang Dynasties,the Hu figurines adopted pottery,the material of making pottery figurines since ancient times,developed the separate moulding and firing technology of The Terracota Warriors,followed the creative idea,shape size and painting technology of Han Dynasty,used the moulding technology,sandwich technology and glazed pottery technology of large terracotta figures of Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties.Due to the great differences in the styles of the figurines in the Sui and Tang Dynasties,this paper makes a separate typing and staging study on the styles of Hu figurines unearthed in Luoyang and Changan,and determines the three developing periods of their style.From the aspects of plastic arts,production materials,production technology and color art,this paper discusses and analyses the characteristics and changes of Hu figurines in the two capitals of Sui and Tang Dynasties in different periods,and demonstrates the rules of their shaping,production and color evolution.The style of the figurines is realistic and the techniques of manufacture include kneading,sandwich,bonding and painting.The techniques of making the figurines include painted pottery,moulding,glazed pottery,tri-colored Tang,and individual moulding,which put more emphasis on the inherent color of the figurines.There are similarities and differences in the styles of the terracotta figures in the two regions.On the whole,the art of the terracotta figures in Luoyang has been influenced by the area of Changan,but also has their certain regional characteristics.They are slightly inferior to those in Changan area in terms of production and less beautiful than the figurines in Changan area.For the prototypes of different shapes of Hu figurines,this paper chooses such shapes as the dragon-led Hu figurines,the black one with curly hair and barefoot feet,the black one with large eyes,the hunting ones with leopards and eagles,and the musical Hu figurines,and makes a research on their artistic prototypes.This paper also compares and analyses the influence of the two capitals on the style of figurines in Hebei,Shanxi,Gansu and Xinjiang during the Sui and Tang Dynasties.It is found that in the surrounding areas and along the Silk Road,Hebei Province is most affected by the two capitals,followed by Shanxi and Gansu province,which have their own unique style.The figurines in Xinjiang are the least influenced by the two capitals and have the most unique style.This paper puts forward the concept of"Changan model",and summarizes its content from the styles of the initial stage and the mature stage,which can be used as a standard to judge the age of the Hu figurines in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.In the appendix,the images of the Hu figurines in the Sui and Tang Dynasties are sorted out comprehensively,and nearly 400 pictures have basically verified their origins and sources,with accurate and reliable data,which lays a solid foundation for future research.