Study On The Style And Structure Of Jubao Gate In Nanjing Of Ming Dynasty

JuBao Gate in Nanjing, located at the narrow zone nearest to the Qinhuai River in south of Nanjing city, was formerly the south gate of the capital of South Tang Dynasty, followed by the Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. This gate is rebuilt in the 19th year of Hong Wu (1386), which consisted of the upper wooden gate tower, the lower two-layer bricked wall terrace, the quadruple door wall, three barbicans and the steps of both sides. The original JuBao Gate in Ming Dynasty was destroyed in Jiajing years of Qing Dynasty, and the reconstructed JuBao Gate in Daoguang years was destroyed again during the Nanjing battle in Japan's invasion, which was no longer rebuilt. So there is no gate tower in the existing JuBao Gate. The upper gate tower relics of Ming Dynasty is also disappeared, but the remained wall terrace and barbicans are original.In this paper, based on the structure and size of the existing gate tower of Ming Dynasty JuBao Gate in Nanjing, referring to the existing gate tower of Ming Dynasty, the bell tower and drum tower and the contemporaneous Ming Dynasty offcial architectures, the style and structure of gate tower, wall terrace and barbicans of Ming Dynasty JuBao Gate in Nanjing is studied according to the historical documents. By analyzing the structure, size and radio, the speculative design of Ming Dynasty JuBao Gate in Nanjing has been done.The total settings, existing status and historical changes of gates in Nanjing of early Ming Dynasty are first introduced in this paper and JuBao Gate is the largest one of thirteen gates in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty. After that, thirteen gates in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty are classified through the structure and size of barbicans and gate towers, which emphasizes that JuBao gate has a prominent position in the military defense and the largest size. Then, in terms of the wall terrace, wall masonry, arch and scales, the structure of gate tower and three barbicans of JuBao Gate in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty is researches, which analyzes the features of JuBao Gate and provides a base for the speculation of upper gate tower.At last, the destruction and repair of JuBao Gate are recalled and it is definite that the existing gate tower was rebuilt in Daoguang years by analyzing the radio between the gate tower and wall terrace, which was not built in Ming Dynasty. Therefore, by analyzing the existing gate towers of early Ming Dynasty and summarizing the radio, size and normal rules between plane composition, architectural section and elevation of gate towers in early Ming Dynasty, the possible structure, size and radio of JuBao Gate in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty are speculated. Meanwhile, the possible detail features, such as plinth, building envelope, glazed pottery components, are judged. Thus, the study on the Structure of the Jubao Gate in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty is carried out, and a conjectural figure of JuBao gate is drawn.From the research for the style and structure of Ming Dynasty JuBao Gate tower in Nanjing, some conclusions are made as the following:?It is confirmed that the gate tower is a building tower with three gable and hip roofs, a surface breadth of seven baies, the depth of three baies and the gallery around.?The gate tower utilizes the hall structure, with the eave columns and hypostyle columns as beams. The whole wooden structure consists of two-step cross beams, five-purlin wooden structure. The tower structure section has gallery around no matter the down-eaves or the up-eaves.?The tou-kung doukou uses the maximum value, i.e.4 cun, about 13cm. Types of the tou-kung are presumed to be that the first floor is five-cai with single arm and ang, the flat seat floor is five-cai with double arms, down-eaves of the second floor is, up-eaves of the second floor is seven-cai with single arm and double angs. There are two sets of bracket between the middle columns, one or two between others and zero between the corners.?The facade composition of gate tower is also estimated. The gate tower terrace is 19.42m tall (about 6.1 Ming-rules), and the width at the bottom of south gate is 88.8m (about 280 Ming-rules). The whole height of the building is 47.867m (about 150 Ming-rules), so the whole radio between the height and width is 0.54. The single gate tower is 28.447m tall (about 90 Ming-rules), and the width of the surface is 60.069m (about 189.5 Ming-rules), so the radio between the height and width is 0.47. These radios are all between the range of the radio of gate towers during Ming Dynasty.