Song Dynasty Brick Pagoda Imitation Timberwork And The Major Woodwork Practice Of The Treatise On Architectural Methods (Yingzao Fashi)

Abstract

This paper takes a look at Song dynasty brick pagoda imitation timberwork, focusing on the complex part of the major woodwork, the brackets, and later discussing other major woodwork elements. The study begins with the similarities and differences between brickwork and woodwork as a premise, followed by a discussion of the differences arising from the stressing properties and construction logic. Finally, a key example, the Xiangji Temple pagoda in Liquan County, will be compared and contrasted in terms of cai and fen modules. This analysis suggests that the imitation of woodwork in brick pagodas is in fact a balancing act between concealing material properties and yielding to them, with the modal and partially proportional relationships of woodwork being inherited. At the same time, the structural properties of the material are brought into play by changing the way in which it is constructed, for example, by reducing the number of horizontal arms, by linking the perpendicularly arms, and by replacing the arm with a rafter. The brickwork imitation timberwork is neither a system independent of the Treatise, nor is it a system that remains unchanged, but rather a process of reconciling the two types of material and synthesising them.