Art Studies Of Three Carvings In Jingxiutang In Suzhou West Mountain

Jingxiutang, located in East village in Suzhou West Mountain, was built by a Dongting merchant named Xu Lianxi in the 17th year of Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1752). It took people five years to build Jingxiutang, which is the best conserved ancient architectural complex in the village now. The year when Jingxiutang was finished was the important time for the economic development of the regions south of the Yangtze River. At the same time, Dongting merchants had ascended into the sort of famous Huizhou merchants, Shanxi merchants and Jurong merchants. According to the traditional mode of wealth consumption, Dongting merchants built largely, which enabled the architectural technique development of the craftsmen of Fragrant Hills. Brick carving, stone carving and wood carving, as the architectural ornaments, had some breakthroughs in themes and contents, and moreover, had some distinct characters of the time. Jingxiutang, as the residence of a successful merchant, has not only large buildings, but also very distinctive ornaments of three carvings, which become a typical example for the art studies of three carvings of the same time in West Mountain.This thesis briefly introduces the present situation and the formation of Jingxiutang buildings. According to the principle of architectural truss and components, this thesis discusses the distributions and ornament characteristics of three carvings. This thesis also analyzes the themes of three carvings in two directions, which are traditional themes and their characteristics, and themes of the time and their characteristics. In the analysis of themes and contents, this thesis explains the detailed meanings of carving pictures from the point of folklore and analyzes the cultural meanings of the themes from the point of history. Through the analysis of three carvings, this thesis tries to make the three carvings of Jingxiutang present their real historical appearances.