Cultural Background of Carved Stone Sculpture of Ancient Chinese Mausoleums

Abstract

The article explores the ideas, characteristic for religious mindset and philosophy of Confucianism (儒 家思想), about spiritual immortality, filial piety and ethics, which have been firmly established in funerary culture. Harmonic balance of Confucianism, Daoism (道教) and Buddhism brought forth the ideology and concept of immortal soul, according to which the soul does not die after person’s death, and the tomb is its dwelling place. Thus, the construction of tombs gained great significance. The author analyzes Confucian idea of ‘filial piety’, which, merging with ritual funeral concept, developed into a concept of ‘meticulous following of funerary rituals, mourning of parents and worship of ancestors’ (慎终 追远), where the main emphasis is on the organization of parents’ funeral, devotion to ancestors and diligent care of their remains. Furthermore, as Ancient China was an agricultural society which was deliberately devoted to earth, it was believed that the earth is crucial for survival, and one can only rest after death if one’s body is committed to earth. So, to show filial affection, properly make sacrifices, pray for protection, protect the remains and ensure eternal peaceful rest, the internment in the ground became an obligatory condition. And various funeral arrangements, such as marking the grave, its decoration, etc., gradually transformed into funerary plastic art. Consequently, burial in the ground allowed for the possibility and resources to form the funerary plastic art. Ceremonial ideas presented by Mencius (孟子) have become firmly established in the concept of funeral. In a feudal society, for the convenience of government and maintaining the stability of society, etiquette, contributing to the systematization of the hierarchical order of all strata of society, as well as extreme admiration for the imperial power, became a powerful ideological weapon of the rulers. In this ideology, sculptures in the tombs of the supreme rulers – emperors and wangs – are not only guards protecting from evil, but to a greater extent they are also a symbol of imperial power. Therefore, the themes, the number and the size of the sculptures in the tombs of the emperors and wangs were of the highest importance. There is also a strict hierarchical order in the sculptures in front of the tombs of government officials of various levels. Thus, etiquette established standards and order in burial plastic art.