Study On The Colorful Sculptures Of The Twenty-four Heavenly Beings In Gaoping Iron Buddha Temple

As a reflection of traditional Chinese social life,philosophy,religion and other ideologies,ancient temple sculptures embody the spirit of the Chinese nation and the aesthetic characteristics of the times,showing a unique artistic style and social outlook.At the same time,both from the documentary records and the art remains of monasteries,the system of the twenty-four Buddhist celestial images reveals a complex and varied character.Therefore,this paper selects the colorful images of the Twenty-four Heavens at Gaoping Tiehuo Temple as the object of study,and conducts a research based on literature,previous studies and fieldwork,in order to add to the study of the Twenty-four Heavens in Chinese Buddhism.The thesis covers four main chapters:The first chapter mainly clarifies the views of the academic community on the molding age of the 24 heavenly colored sculptures of the Iron Buddha Temple.At the same time,it interprets and records the inscriptions that have not been recorded by predecessors,enriching the relevant content of the Iron Buddha Temple.Then it describes the current status of the remains of the painted sculptures of the 24 Heavens in the Iron Buddha Temple,and studies the renaming of some controversial deities.The second chapter focuses on the artistic characteristics of the 24 painted statues of Tiehuo Temple from two aspects,namely,their operational position and their stylistic features.The second chapter focuses on the artistic characteristics of the twenty-four celestial sculptures at Tiehuo Temple in terms of their location and their artistic characteristics,including their arrangement,layout and spatial implications.At the same time,through the characteristics of the colorful statues of the twenty-four heavenly beings,it is clear that the statues date from the tenth to the fifteenth years of Ming Jiajing.The third chapter compares the statues with those of Datong Shanhua Temple and Changzhi Guanyintang,analyzing their commonalities and differences in terms of the configuration of the statues,their facial shapes,and their costume features,respectively,to explore the characteristics of the configuration of the statues at Tiehuo Temple and further explore the uniqueness of the statues at Tiehuo Temple.The fourth chapter explores the causes and artistic value of the style of the twenty-four painted statues in Tiehuo Temple.The unique artistic appearance is mainly influenced by religious beliefs,the cultural intermingling of various ethnic groups and the regional characteristics of southeast Jin.At the same time,the Tiehuo Temple statues have influenced the artistic style of the 24 Heavenly Figures at Huayan Temple in Qinshui,Shanxi Province,and have provided inspiration for future generations to create their own art.