Study On Wall-painted Images Of Weapons In Tang Dynasty Tombs

Weapon images are one of the representative image systems of Tang dynasty tomb murals,with weapons as their expression.This paper examines the weapon images in Tang dynasty tomb murals from three dimensions: archaeological,artistic and religious,in an attempt to discover their development and artistic characteristics,and then to explore the cultural connotations of the weapon images in tomb murals.Firstly,this paper traced the origins of the tomb chamber mural images of weapons,sorting out the early appearance of the weapon images and their development and evolution process,summarized from them the general rules of subject matter and the development characteristics of the weapon images.The tomb chamber mural images of weapons of the Tang dynasty were inherited from the tomb chamber mural images of the Han dynasty,affirming the ceremonial content of the tomb images of weapons of the Wei,Jin and North and South dynasties,and pushing the ceremonialisation of such images to a peak.Secondly,this paper makes a general analysis on the tomb images of weapons in Tang Dynasty.The images of weapons are mainly found in tombs from the early Tang to the height of the Tang Dynasty,and gradually declined from the An Shi Rebellion to the late Tang Dynasty.In terms of geographical distribution,the capital region is prominent,with a large number,high specification and uniform form.The weapon images of Tang dynasty tomb murals had a clear direction and were part of the culture of the nobility.In terms of the types of weapon images and the iconographic themes they constitute,there are three main categories: sacrificial vessel,weapons and magic weapons,and three types of ritual,military and religious themes.The ritualistic images are the main focus of the Tang tomb wall painting images of weapons,and this brings with a programmatic representation of the images.Finally,a comprehensive exploration of Tang dynasty tomb mural images of weapons is presented.The weapon images had the advantage of reflecting the political,military and religious culture of the Tang dynasty,and were interpreted from each of these three perspectives,adding to the details that were difficult to reflect in the literature.This allows us to consider the continuation and development of the iconographic system of post-Tang dynasty tomb mural images,and to explore the main changes that occurred in the later development of the Tang dynasty tomb mural iconographic system.