Page 140 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

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ends of which are anchored to a crossbeam (i). In Sung and Yuan
construction, the ang ride freely balanced on the bracketing sys-
tem (2 and 3), creating a dynamic and meaningful play of forces
that reminds us of Gothic vaulting. During the Ming and Ch'ing,
however, as the details become increasingly fussy and elaborate,
the true function of ang and bracket is lost, and the whole degen-
erates into an intricate but structurally meaningless assemblage of
carpentry, a mere decorative frieze running along under the eaves
(4 and 5).
149 Conjectural reconstruction of the
Lin-te-tten of the Ta-ming Kung,
Ch'ang-an. T'ang Dynasty.

The sketch on this page shows a conjectural restoration ofone of
the palaces of the Ta-ming Kung. It is instructive to compare this
with the three great halls of the Forbidden City in Peking (see p.
183). While the latter is far larger in scale, the grouping of the
buildings is much less interesting. The interlocking of masses on
ascending levels buttressed at the sides by wings and towers,
which gives such strength to the T'ang complex, was not at-
tempted in Peking. T'ang (and indeed Sung) palaces seem to have
been not only more enterprising architecturally but also more nat-
ural in scale than the vast, isolated, and coldly ceremonial struc-
tures of the Ch'ing Dynasty, and suggest a more human concept
of the role of the emperor.
A few T'ang stone and brick pagodas have survived. Some
the pagoda built for Hsuan-tsang's ashes at Ch'ang-an, for exam-
ple—are straightforward translations of a form of construction
derived from the Han timber tower (lou). The Chien-fu-ssu at
Sian (sec Figure 122, No. 5), on the other hand, derives ultimately
from the Indian sikhara tower of stone, which we have already en-
countered in its purest form in the pagoda on Mount Sung (sec p.
1 50 Pagoda of Hsin-chiao-ssu, Ch'ang- 98). Imitation of Indian forms was carried still further in the
an. Shcnsi. Brick. Built about 690 to
Treasure Pagoda of the Fu-kuang temple of Wu-t'ai-shan, which
receive the ashes of Hsuan-tsang: rebuilt
882. T'ang Dynasty. originally had a dome, copied perhaps from a sketch or souvenir
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