ZAOJING

The 'zaojing' () is an elaborately ornamented wooden ceiling in traditional Chinese architecture. Constructed without nails, the layered pieces of the ceiling are held together by interlocking bracket sets (''dougong''). The ''zaojing'' resembles an intricately carved or painted dome, coffer, cupola, or sunken caisson ceiling.^[1]
The ''zaojing'' is bordered by a round, square, or polygon frame with its brackets projecting inward and upward from its base. Deeply recessed panels shaped like a well (square at the base with a rounded top) are fitted into the ceiling's wooden framework. The center panel is often decorated with water lilies or other water plants. The name, ''zaojing'', is a combination of ''zǎo'' (aquatic plants) and ''jǐng'' (well).^[2] The relationship of the name to water stems from the ancient fear that wooden buildings would be destroyed by fire and that water from the ''zaojing'' would prevent or quell the fire's flames.^[3]

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Use

In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques. Simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the lattice ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the ''zaojing''. Because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the ''zaojing'' was reserved for the ceilings of the most important Chinese buildings such as imperial palaces and Buddhist temple altars.
The tomb of Empress Dowager Wenmind of the Northern Wei Dynasty has ''zaojing'' in the flat-topped, vaulted ceiling in the back chamber of her tomb.^[4] The Baoguo Monastery in Yuyao in Zhejiang has three ''zaojing'' in the ceiling, making it unique among surviving examples of Song architecture. Sanquing Hall (Hall of the Three Purities) is the only Yuan period structure with three zaojing in its ceiling.
^[5] ''Zaojing'' are frequently found in Han Dynasty tombs.

Notes

1. Zaojing ceiling
2. Chinese Architecture, , Nancy W., Steinhardt, Yale University Press, 2002,
3. Caisson Ceiling (Zaojing)
4. Chinese Architecture -- The Three Kingdoms, Western and Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, , Fu, Xinian, Yale University Press, 2002,
5. Chinese Architecture -- The Lia, Song, Xi Xia, and Jin Dynasties, , Gao, Daiheng, Yale University Press, 2002,

External links

★ Chinese traditional architecture - zaojing