Research On Dunhuang Frescoes Chairs

The Fresco of Dunhuang is one of the most important culture relic of China. It records the changes of Buddha’s image and scene of civilian’s life from period of sixteen countries to Yuan Dynasty. Ten dynasties have passed on this fresco with a long history over a thousand years. It shows the enormous social life scene on various aspects like economy and culture, science and technology and so on over mediaeval period of China, which indicates the great evolution and succession of folk art. Meanwhile, Fresco of Dunhuang was influenced by the culture of Hexi Corridor, India of South Asia, Persia of West Asia and even Greek and Roma. All the religion believes from the Buddha, the Jing, the Dao and others merge in Dunhuang and give the world a great fusion of different culture which is never seen before. The development of Buddhism towards the east influences the evolution of seat furniture. It develops from the lower one to higher one with the evidence of raise of chair. And it also promotes other furniture develop from low to high accompanied with the changes of the space layout.The Fresco of Dunhuang has a huge content of art design conception and philosophy idea. The author is going to elaborate the development of chair by analyzing the chair in the Fresco of Dunhuang and how these chairs influence the modern ones and the west ones. And the analysis is going to be done from elements like shape, material, decoration and so on. Chair which comes to China with the Buddhism influences the normal life of folks as a higher seat furniture. People changed there sitting habit a lot because they adopt new things with open mind. The development of chair indicates the changes of folks’ opinion. People are not closing their eyes and refusing to accept advanced things. They embrace the art culture and religion belief with an open mind, which makes China a prosperous period.The analysis of chair in fresco is aiming at not only emphasis the importance of traditional culture and Dunhuang culture, but also encouraging designers to mix west idea with Chinese tradition. Designers should not immerge themselves in west design idea. They should keep Chinese traditional in mind and take what is good from the west and avoid the bad side. What is more, they should make innovation to gain their own design ideas and unique design opinion. Focusing only on inheriting or copying would not help the development of Chinese modern chair. Design should pay more attention on the soul than technology and appearance. A good design combines design, natural environment and ecological culture in harmony.