The brick depicts an event taking place in the reign of Duke Jing of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period. Duke Jing had three master warriors serving him, namely Gongsun Jie, Tian Kaijiang and Gu Yezi, who were collectively known as the Three Heroes of State Qi. All the three were favored by Duke Qi for their bravery and military merits. Nonetheless, the three men became arrogant day by day, capitalizing on their achievements. Yan Ying the Prime Minister of State Qi feared that the three men turn to the Tians who were gaining power at the time. In that case, the Qi government would be dangerously threatened. Yan tried many times to persuade Duke Jing into eliminating the Three Heroes. But Duke Jing was simply irresolute. Yan Ying then drew a conspiracy. He gave two peaches to the three men, asking them to “have the peaches according to their military merits”. The three rivaled for the peaches. Gu failed and committed suicide. Feeling ashamed, the other two also killed themselves.
The portrait brick depicts three people. Gongsun Jie stands on the right side of the stem dou vessel, reaching for a peach. He looks arrogantly calm. One finds easily how pretentious a person Gongsun is. Tian Kaijiang on the left side of the dou vessel is unwilling to be outdone. A sword held in his right hand, Tian stretches his left hand out for the other peach, fearing it’d be taken away. Gu Yezi is far from the dou vessel and squares away. He is fully ready to spring for a peach. However, he is still outdone by the other two. Desperate and furious, Gu tightly grasps his sword by the edge, without feeling any hurt. The disproportionately large head vividly reveals Gu’s rage.
With a simple lay-out, the brick vividly depicts the three heroes in that confrontation, their acts exaggerated and their robes flying back, highlighting the tension at the moment.
This portrait brick depicting the Peach Incident actually reflects some Confucian thoughts such as “dying for a cause” and “benevolence and justice”.
Confucianism was created by Confucius during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods when the Chinese society experienced constant turbulence and went corrupt. Ancient China trudged through social upheavals, revolutions and chains of changes.
The First Emperor of Qin unified China and ruled over the country with the Legalist thoughts. However, the people suffered a lot, as the Qin court employed severe laws. This First Emperor of Qin is also known in history for cruelly burning numerous books and burying recalcitrant scholars. This savage act launched a hard hit at the development of Confucianism.
The rulers reigning from the early days to the eras of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty drew lessons from the collapse of the short-lived Qin court which ruled just by two emperors and uphold the Huang-Lao Ideology to govern the state by non-interference and adopting a policy for revitalization of the people. Decades later, the Chinese society and economy saw a substantial recovery and development when Emperor Wu of Han ruled the country. The Han court gained economic strength and military power and a centralized political structure was established.
The political unification naturally required the unification in ideology. Scholars and philosophers enjoyed a relatively free atmosphere in the early Han Dynasty and various schools of thought developed. It hadn’t been changed until Dong Zhongshu, a renowned Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty suggested the court “eliminate various schools of thought and set Confucianism as the orthodoxy”, by absorbing any Taoist and Legalist ideas in favor of centralized authority, in the name of The Spring and Autumn Annals, so as to seek unity of ideology of the people.
Emperor Wu of Han took Dong’s suggestion, eliminating various schools of thought, setting Confucianism as the orthodoxy, establishing the Imperial College and setting positions for the Learned Scholars of Five Classics. One’s knowledge in classics was even listed among the criteria for official selection. Confucianism, in this way, saw a full revitalization and outdid the other schools of thought. It became the one and only government-supported ideology dominating the Chinese society thereafter.
“Benevolence” sits at the core of Confucianism and means loyalty, filial piety, moral integrity and righteousness. After having attained the dominating position in ideology, Confucianism left its imprints on the Han society. The portrait bricks of the Han Dynasty were products of the times and society and naturally under the influence of Confucianism. The historical events depicted in portrait bricks reflect, to some extent, the status and development of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty.
The portrait bricks depicting the Peach Incident have been discovered and unearthed in Nanyang, Henan Province; in an ancestral hall at Songshan in the Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province; and in the Sishilipu Town in the Suide County, Shaanxi Province.
1. Style of expression
The portrait brick depicting the Peach Incident unearthed from Xinye, Henan Province, is known for its simple lay-out. There are only the three sword-holding warriors and a dou vessel containing the peaches. However, the figures are all lifelike, their acts exaggerated and their robes flying back. The confrontation is fully displayed before us. One is deeply impressed with the three men’s arrogance and egoism.
The stone relief discovered in an ancestral hall at Songshan in the Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, depicts the same event. But in this stone relief, there are four figures, namely the three sword-holding warriors trying to grab the peaches and one peach-holding herald. The four figures are vividly true to the real-life proportion. Nonetheless, the picture lacks the atmosphere of confrontation, as the figures and their robes are less dynamic-looking (Fig.1).
The stone relief unearthed in the Sishilipu Town in the Suide County, Shaanxi Province also depicts the Peach Incident. In addition to the three warriors and a peach-holding herald, there is also one servant. The herald stands there, while the other four are seated. The main picture is surrounded with wave and diamond patterns, thus of a decorative sense. Concisely-depicted, the figures look more or less quite rigid. They would be mistaken as nobles at a feast, without the image of a warrior drawing his sword or the two peaches in the dou vessel (Fig.2).
2. Figures
Artists in ancient China tried their best to depict both the form and the spirit of the objects which were the core issue of the formative arts then.
The figures in the portrait brick unearthed in Nanyang are relatively exaggerated. The heads of the three warriors are bulging and their feet unexceptionally large. The figures are thus look out of proportion. Nevertheless, it is this seemingly-unreasonable proportion produces an art style making good sense.
The figures in the stone relief unearthed in Songshan, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, are well-proportioned, lifelike, and convincing.
3. Way of cutting
Stone relief unearthed in Nanyang is largely cut from limestone that is hard yet brittle in texture. This type of stone is good for rough cuts without details. That’s why artisans adopted simple and bold lines. Stone relief of Nanyang is usually majestic-looking.
Stone relief in the Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, is made of hard bluestone fine in texture. The stone is ideal for delicate carving to reveal details. Artisans applied multilayer carvings with an exquisite craftsmanship, forming a stylized feature with neat and well-arranged lines.
Stone relief discovered in Suide, Shaanxi Province is carved out of hard and shaly aqueous rock that flakes off in carving. Therefore, the rock isn’t ideal for multilayer carvings. That’s why the figures engraved on such rock are mostly simple in shape and ink-lined and color-filled. This type of stone relief looks like paper-cuts.
4. Characteristics
Nanyang was an area of State Chu in ancient China. Influenced by the romantic art style of State Chu, patterns in stone relief of Nanyang feature an elaborate combination of dots, lines and sides, bearing similarity to the art works of the Chu culture.
Stone relief of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Suide, Shaanxi Province features highlighted themes. Artisans chose the most demonstrative scenes to illustrate a theme.
Stone reliefs found in Shandong Province are more of a realistic style.
What the Confucian ideology can you find in this portrait brick depicting the Peach Incident?
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Stone relief/portrait bricks of the Han Dynasty
Stone reliefs/portrait bricks are carved stone structural members in a tomb chamber, an ancestral hall or watchtowers to a tomb or temple of the Han Dynasty. The buildings in which the stone reliefs/portrait bricks were discovered are mostly for the ritual burial purposes. Stone relief/portrait bricks of the Han Dynasty are in essence an art for funeral ceremonies and the acme of the pre-Han classical Chinese fine arts and exerted a profound influence on the fine arts of and after the Han Dynasty. They occupy a significant role in the history of Chinese fine arts.
Stone relief/portrait bricks are colorful in themes, mainly in three categories.
I. Colorful daily life
This category reveals the possessions and wealth of the tomb owner when he was alive, including woods, fields, ponds to real estates, which spread in front of us a scroll of manor economy. That illustrates the material basis for the life enjoyed by the tomb owner.
II. Historical events of moral values
As the rulers of the Han court eliminated various schools of thought and set Confucianism as the orthodoxy, Neo-Confucianism took dominance in the society. Confucian ideology and classics were even taken as the criteria in official selection. The people accepted the established relationship between the ruler and the ruled, father and son and showed their due respect to virtuous emperor and officials, military figures of merits, chaste women and even martyr assassinators. Historical stories in the kind are not uncommon.
III. Magnificent fairyland of immortals
There are the four deities of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise (a turtle entwined with a snake), as well as the scenes in which the goddess Nüwa created human beings with mud and repaired the pillar of heaven with colored pebbles.
In one word, the stone relief of the Han Dynasty features an extensive variety of themes, reflecting the society, customs and traditions, laws and rules and religions in the Han Dynasty. It is the delicate stone-carving that provides us with rich clues on political, economic and cultural conditions of the Han Dynasty.
