Through scattered collections, six inspiration elements have appeared in my moodboard, but most of these inspirations are related to traditional Chinese folk customs. The theories and historical background still need further research, so I have started looking into literature to explore whether these elements can be part of expressing my research question in the project.
Masking Death: Funerary Art of Medieval China
I had only read some archaeological works as tools before, without systematically reading a full collection. So, The Masks of the Dead: A Study of Han and Tang Dynasty Tomb Art became the first archaeological monograph I read. It consists of four sections, each focusing on different tomb cases from various perspectives, and also includes brief reviews of the academic history in related areas. For a beginner like me, it’s a helpful way to understand typical tomb cases and the work of relevant scholars. Each section contains three to four papers that deeply explore specific issues.
The paper I found most interesting is On the “Half-Open Door”. It summarizes almost all the materials on half-open doors, as well as their usage and modifications, and presents the views of different scholars on this subject. Then, it examines these images from the perspective of people at the time, considering the social and cultural context. Different viewers had different experiences of the half-open door. The paper also compares this image with other similar ones, such as figures hidden behind screens and “peeking through windows,” both of which depict the relationship between people and architectural space. It concludes with the statement, “A tomb, after all, is the result of the collision, entanglement, collaboration, and compromise between ideals and reality, between death and art, aiming to blur the line between reality and illusion.”
By the end of the reading, I understood the symbolic meaning of the half-open door. It connects the real and the imaginary, inspiring the viewer’s imagination. When placed in a tomb, it may symbolize that beyond the earth or brick walls, the future of the tomb’s occupant remains boundless.
The “half-open door” structure in tombs also corresponds to my inspiration. It is an element filled with a sense of the unknown and guidance.