Stone Images Convey Best Wishes

“Best View Pavilion” in the northwest corner of downtown Shengzhou City is a key cultural heritage under provincial protection. Though it is only an additional part of the Town God Temple of Shengzhou City, culturally it is more important than the temple. It is now unlikely to find when the town-god sanctuary came into being, but the earliest record of a refurbishment project on the temple goes back to 1341 in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The present-day pavilion, erected in 1804, was an afterthought to the temple in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The name of the pavilion comes from a remark made by Zhu Xi (1130-1200), a preeminent Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The founder of neo-Confucianism visited the hill and had a commanding view of the landscape. He commented that the panorama from the hill was the best view of this part of Zhejiang Province.

About 450 years after that the ancient refurbishment of the original temple, craftsmen in the Qing Dynasty had a chance to add a unique touch to the temple. The two-storied add-on is definitely more artistic than the temple itself.

What makes the 200-year-old pavilion unique is neither the magnificent double-eave nor the best view it once commanded. It is the sculptures in relief carved on eight foundation stones that make the pavilion rare and precious.

The foundation is composed of various stones in different sizes and shapes. The eight carved stones encircle the foundation half way up the ground as if it were a sash around the waist. The sculpted images are situated within eight 184 cm x 72 cm horizontal rectangular frames; each frame has five images and altogether eight frames present 40 images.

The images are divided in two distinct groups, one called “Bogu” and the other “Auspicious Animals”. The name Bogu or illustrated images of valuable antiques came from an illustrated collection of paintings of antiques. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty ordered to have his collection of antiques in Xuanhe Hall all made into drawings and put together into an album so that he could enjoy looking at his treasures with ease. The illustrated book is called Bogu Pictures of the Xuanhe Hall. The 30-volume collection features a wide range of artifacts in the royal collection made of bronze, porcelain, jade, stone and other metals. These antiques look good in illustration and give the reader a unique opportunity to reexamine the aesthetics of these antiques. These unique images were later widely adopted to decorate houses, fabrics and artifacts. The sculptors who carved these Bogu images must have copies of these 30 volumes.

The Bogu images include a wide range of utensils used in wining and dining in ancient royal houses. But the images on the foundation stones are not exact replicas from the illustrated collection. They are surrounded by other minor images such as eight diagrams, coins, corals, leaves.

Compared with these Bogu images, “Auspicious Animals” play the central part in these eight horizontal frames. These are fine sculptures in relief 6 centimeters deep in some parts.

The magic creatures include the dragon, the phoenix, the unicorn, the white deer, the six-ivory elephant, the crane, the bull, the toad and the bat, all with magic power in ancient Chinese legends and myths. Each magic animal represents a totem in Chinese folk beliefs.

The magic animals and Bogu images and other ornamental images form independent images expressing blessings, prayers and wishes. For example, Unicorn or Qilin is the magic animal of peace in Chinese tradition. According to legends, its appearance in the world harbingers peace. On the other hand, eight diagrams represent major elements of nature such as heaven, earth, thunder, wind, rain, fire, mountain, and marshland. Tai Ji refers to the origin of nature and man according to Chinese faith. Qilin and eight diagrams form a picture that seeks peace and prosperity.

All these images of fortune and blessings are surrounded by light purple stone frames. Outside the frames are rectangular patterns interspersed with dragons. These images of Bogu antiques and auspicious animals are both architectural ornaments and independent works of art. That is why they as a whole are of great cultural significance.