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Table 3 General characteristics of bracket-sets 34
Ling’endian Zixiaodian Longguodian
Bracket-set types (upper eaves) 9-cai, double-qiao, double-ang, rear 7-cai, single-qiao double-ang, rear 7-cai, single-qiao, double-ang, level
tail supporting an inclined member 九 tail supporting an inclined member rear tail七踩單翹重昂斗拱後尾平置
踩重翹重昂後尾起斜杆 七踩單翹重昂後尾起斜杆
Bracket-set types (lower eaves) 7-cai, single-qiao, double-ang liujin 5-cai, double-ang, liujin rear tail 5-cai, double-ang, level rear tail
rear tail七踩单翘重昂後尾溜金 五踩重昂後尾溜金 五踩重昂斗拱後尾平置

exhausted an extraordinary amount of manpower. and five-tier double false cantilever sets on the bottom
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Furthermore, immediately following the Yongle reign, the (Table 3). The fact that the same bracketing appears both
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need to conserve nan-wood construction materials had in the five-bay Zixiaodian and the seven-bay Longguodian
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evidently already been recognised at the imperial level. suggests that in early Ming official architecture the number
Therefore, although it may not have been the highest of tiers in a bracket-set was not dictated by the size or
priority of Yongle himself, it seems logical to conclude that number of bays in a building, but rather by the importance
builders had been devising techniques to make the best of the architecture to the state. This point is also supported
possible use of materials since at least the Song dynasty and through the example of the three main halls aligned along
that these methods were finally carried out on a large scale the central axis of the Taimiao 太廟 (Imperial Ancestral
in the early Ming.The reduction of the module size was no Temple) (1545) (Pl. 21.7), which all employ seven-tier sets

doubt at least in part a result of this concern. even though the buildings are five, nine and eleven bays
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across the façade.
Bracket-set types The bracket-sets of Ling’endian, Zixiaodian and
Ling’endian, Zixiaodian and Longguodian are all double- Longguodian, and in fact all brackets in official Ming
eave structures, which means they have two layers of architecture, employ the ‘filled-heart’ technique (jixinzao
bracket-sets. At all the halls, the bracket-sets supporting the 計心造) outlined in the Yingzao fashi, in which bracket arms
top eave employ two more tiers (cai 踩) – or projections perpendicular to the building façade support a ‘crisscross’
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perpendicular to the building’s façade – than those that of both parallel and perpendicular bracket arms (Pl. 21.8a).
support the bottom eave. Qi Yingtao has observed that the Bracket-set techniques that were once popular in the Song
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most eminent Ming dynasty buildings, such as halls that and the Yuan, such as the ‘stolen heart’ (touxinzao 偷心造)
directly served the emperor, employ nine-tier brackets on (consisting mostly of perpendicular rather than parallel
the top and seven-tier sets on the bottom, whereas less projecting bracket arms) (Pl. 21.8b) and ‘single-arm’
illustrious buildings, such as Buddhist temples, use seven-tier (dangongzao 單栱造) (a single-tier bracket parallel to the wall
bracket sets on the top and five-tier sets on the bottom. This plane) (Pl. 21.8c), disappeared in the early Ming. This
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is consistent with the evidence preserved in the three halls indicates a newfound level of simplification in bracket-set
examined here, where Ling’endian (Pl. 21.6a), one of the types.
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most important Ming halls for making state sacrifices, The parts of the bracket-set invisible from the outside
employs nine- and seven-tier sets and both Zixiaodian and reveal additional likenesses among the three halls.
Longguodian, the main halls in a Daoist and a Buddhist Ling’endian and Zixiaodian, and in fact all the high rank
temple, respectively, use seven- and five-tier bracket sets (Pl. Yongle period buildings at Mount Wudang, employ a special
21.6b–c). kind of bracket known as liujin 溜金. Liujin is a vestige of the
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At Zixiaodian and Longguodian, the bracket types are more structurally complicated true cantilever (ang 昂) used
identical to each other: seven-tier, single projection (qiao in the pre-Ming periods. In the liujin bracket, the rear tail
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翹), double false cantilever (chongjia’ang 重假昂) on the top of the false cantilever of the inter-columnar sets extends well
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Plate 21.7 Taimiao 太廟 (Imperial Ancestral Temple) (1545), Beijing

Architecture of the Early Ming Court: A Preliminary Look | 193