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Chinese Corbel(牛腿)

General Introduction

In Chinese ancient architecture , corbel servs as the bracket between the beam and cantilever structure to support the entire structure. The corbel has the function of connecting cantilever and beam, transmitting the weight from the beam. Because roof beams are interconnected, the corbel is required to deliver larger force from both horizontal and vertical directions, which results in decrease of its height to half of length of the beam. An increasing number of ancient Chinese people applied corbel to their house construction, led to the spread of corbel construction technique from the east to the west. Initially, West Coast antiquities dealers considered the corbel as art product rather than a technique applied to architecture.

Corbel Carving

The common shape of Chinese corbel is like a right triangle, which is bigger at upper part and smaller at lower part. At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, there was no decorative carving on the corbel that appeared until in the middle of the dynasty. At first, the decorations were mainly engraved lines . As time went by, sculptural reliefs, bas-reliefs and circular carving forms of carving. The skill of carving corbel became highly required. With the increase of forms of carving, the level of difficult was also raised, reaching peak in late Ming Dynasty. The porcelain carving of a single corbel sometimes might required several hundreds of people’s work. Sometimes it not only had a consummate appearance, but also told a chain story.

With the increase use of corbel in Chinese local architecture, corbel carving had become popular among ancient Chinese people, which developed the traditional technique of wood carving.

Themes in Corbel Carving

There are multifarious themes in corbel carving, including people, animals and landscape. The most common protagonist is lion and deer. In Chinese, “lion” sounds as alike as “things” so that people carve lion on the corbel to express the wish of being successful in their lives. The deer is regarded as a precious species in China, which is thought to bring auspicious outlook and optative lives. . As for the theme of people, it appeared in late Qing Dynasty, serving as the most important part in corbel carving. The moral of the theme was presented by history and fairy tale. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Generals of the Yang familyand the Legend of Deification were common subjects appeared in corbel carving, demonstrating the central concept of Confucianism. The loyalty of Guan Yu, the ingenuity of Zhu Geliang, and the filial piety of the Yang Family were best elucidated in corbel carving and revealed Chinese culture. The engravings emphasize the personality and characteristics of the character, presenting the masterful skills of corbel carving.

Huizhou, a place in Anhui, was the gathering place for Huizhou merchants. Those merchants would build houses to show their wealth. The corbels of their houses would always have the theme of the eight immortals, a common carving theme which are the characters of Taoism. “Like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each one shows his or her special prowess” is the tenet of business, which is adopted and worshiped by Huizhou merchants.

Fu, Lu, and Shou are also common themes in corbel carving. Fu is always represented by vice director, illustrating people’s happy lives. The character of Lu is the official of board of personnel who represents the promotion of one’s work. Shou means longevity and health.They play roles that are worshiped by common people, therefore carved as a common theme on corbel. The theme of Fu, Lu and Shou is the indication of people’s best wishes for life.

Scenery with mountains and rivers in corbel carving is another popular theme, commonly presenting as if a scroll of landscape of Chinese painting. There are some characters appearing in the scenery and make the whole theme as an interesting story. Chinese landscape itself emphasizes feeling and artistic conception, relevant theme in corbel carving undoubtedly pays much attention on details to make the scene compelling.

Stage is commonplace in Jiangnan area, which is often set at temples or halls. The striking places on the stage give those carving masters opportunities to show their masterpieces. Corbel carving is especially exquisite on the ancient stage, with relevant content with Chinese opera performed on the stage. The love story between Yang Guifei and emperor Li Longji is a popular theme in corbel carving, representing the impact of history and culture on people’s lives.

Corbel and Chinese culture

The corbels in ancient architectures have been experiencing hundreds of years’ baptism. Even though the light color has turned into deep antiquated brownish-black, the exactly complicated and deep color give the ancient architectures a sense of history and rich cultural connotations. Some Chinese ancient towns such as Pingyao ancient town and Wuzhen become popular places for tourists to visit. People are attracted by those antiques, which are the emblems of history. The ancient towns are now best place for people to witness carving skills and cherish ancient Chinese culture. Meanwhile, corbels are new favorite of numerous collectors.