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massive load-bearers seen in the arch surrounds at the Da Notes
Baoen Monastery. These are more typical of solutions 1 The earlier 1407 date is suggested by Carrington Goodrich and
37
found in the Near East, or in the vaulted arches of Fang in DMB, 363. They associate the rebuilding with the death of
European churches. Yongle’s Empress Xu in 1407 and the subsequent project in her
honour. Wang Cheng-Hua 1998, 19, notes the commencement
As mentioned, rare technical skills were needed to fire year. Thomas Allom quotes the specific day from records kept by
the larger pieces of monolithic stoneware. These are monks at the monastery. He also notes the project cost (discussed
uniquely large, certainly for China and possibly anywhere. later) and records the architect as ‘Shelang-Hwang’ (possibly
There is no record of who the kiln masters were or where transliteration for Huang Shilang (?), but no similar name appears
in sources examined). Allom 1858–9, 164–5.
they came from. The polychrome glaze of the more ornate 2 In addition to Pl. 20.1, see also Eng 2014, 247, figs 8.13 and 8.15 for
parts (applied in a separate, second firing) was unusually reproductions of sketches by John Nieuhoff (after Nieuhoff 1669,
fine but probably well within the technical capability of 84) and by Xu Hu (active early 19th century).
Ming craft workshops in and around Shanxi province, the 3 Thorp 1988, 115.
northern centre for glazework expertise. We know that 4 Transcriptions of a 1424 stele erected by Yongle and of Xuande’s
1428 dedicatory stele are recorded in Zhang Huiyi 1938 juan 5,
Shanxi craft workshops managed and led the glazework 22–5.
kilns for the Yuan palaces of Dadu, and later for the Ming 5 Nieuhoff 1669, 79–85. A longer account was published in 1843 by
38
and Qing palaces of Beijing. However, there is no record Captain Granville G. Loch in Loch 1843, 180–1. See also Allom
that connects Shanxi craftsmen with work on the imperial 1858–9, 162. These accounts date from times when the purpose
and function of pagodas were still not fully understood in the West.
projects in Nanjing, and there were differences in the finish Salient extracts appear in Eng 2014, 246–8.
of Ming palace halls in Nanjing and Beijing. For instance, 6 HDACA 1986, 196. See also Kerr and Wood 2004, 516.
polychrome glazes ornamented prestigious buildings 7 Allom 1858–9, 164–5.
(including this pagoda) in Nanjing but subsequently in 8 Nanjing bowuyuan 1960.
9 Thorp 1988, 115.
imperial Beijing, even with Shanxi glazework craftsmen 10 Clunas and Harrison-Hall 2014, figs 190–1.
clearly on hand, multi-coloured finishes for roofs were 11 Beer 1999, 88–90.
entirely assembled from monochrome-glazed components. 12 Whilst the figures which appear in the Cloud Terrace torana are
The polychrome glazework seen in Nanjing could have similar in form and sequence to those in the reconstruction at the
been the work of Shanxi craftsmen, but the source of Nanjing Municipal Museum (the fuller of the two reconstructions
in Nanjing), additional guardian figures appear in the sequence at
expertise for designing and first-firing at high-temperature the Zhihua Monastery, which also uses its makaras as decorative
the monumental stoneware components is presently column-heads away from the torana sequence in the panel frames.
unclear. The Zhihua Monastery sutra cabinet is surprisingly fortunate to
Finally, it is not even certain how this pagoda was have survived the turbulent history of the temple. The garuda at the
head of each of its panels is a motif rarely seen in China (especially
constructed. No descriptions of pagoda building have in the North) and reflects Hindu iconography more commonly
survived generally. Marks on walls of brick-built pagodas observed (outside India) in Southeast Asia and the Indonesian
suggest that bamboo scaffolding was sometimes used, but archipelago. Kenneth Hammond notes that its presence in this
for a structure of this height there would have been concerns temple, supposedly since its 1440 dedication, might be a legacy of
for stability, even before the addition of heavy static loads of the Mongol acceptance of Tibetan Lamaist Buddhism during the
Yuan dynasty, a patronage which continued under the Yongle
arch components or the dynamic stress of hoists and emperor. See Hammond 2001, 194. Beijing wenbo jiaoliuguan
pulleys. Particularly difficult to explain with no 2005, 132–9.
contemporary record of construction techniques is how the 13 DMHD, juan 190. See also Lu Maocun 1996; Wang Guangyao
2004.
builders would have installed the heavy timber cha-post or 14 Ding, Kang and Miao 2011. See also Wood 1999, 67.
steeple. This was a heavy post cut from a single massive tree 15 The tianbai glaze, a brilliant white, sometimes with a hint of green,
which stood suspended on cantilevers within the upper was one of the glazes developed in Jingdezhen in the early 15th
third of the pagoda. It was customarily installed from above century during the quest for ever whiter glazes. See Wood 1999,
66–7.
39
in the final stages of construction. At least one group of 16 Harrison-Hall 2001, 523.
researchers suggests the use of a continuous ramp on which 17 Allom 1858–9, 164–5, cited by Krahl 1991, 55, with acknowledgement
earth was mounded around each successive storey, to J. and H. Espir.
providing a progressively elevated temporary working 18 See Eng 2014, 248.
platform which was subsequently removed on project 19 See Eng 2014, 185 and also Eng 2008, 277.
completion. 40 20 Though no glazed floor tiles of any kind have yet to be found in situ,
depictions exist of what may be monochrome tiles. For example in
In conclusion, we now know much of how the Da Baoen an Early Tang Dynasty mural painting of a dance in a palace
Monastery Pagoda looked but we do not know who built it or setting at the Dunhuang grottoes in Cave 220 (south wall),
indeed how it was built. This has not diminished local monochrome tiles in four shades appear to be laid as floor tiles in
ambitions, and there is a project under way in Nanjing, on diaper pattern. However, this mural may depict an imaginary
setting and its detail not necessarily inspired by real life. For image,
the original site, to construct a concrete, glass and steel see Fan 2004, 73, fig. 62. From the Ming dynasty, a two-tone
structure of similar height which will serve as a visitor composition appears on the flagstone floor of a pavilion in a
education centre. A Chinese conglomerate is believed to handscroll from 1484, in Clunas and Harrison-Hall 2014, 62, fig.
have contributed RMB 1 billion towards the project, and 38. In the same catalogue (p. 102, fig. 91) and in another medium, a
this in purchasing power parity is broadly equivalent to the carved lacquer dish depicts what appears to be patterned tiles on a
pavilion terrace. However, these are almost certainly depictions of
2.5 million taels which the original pagoda is said to have unglazed flooring bricks with a patterned moulded surface
cost. intended to afford better grip outdoors in inclement weather. Such
tiles were already well developed by the Tang dynasty and can be

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