1. History of
furniture and
interior design
a global View
Mark HincHMan
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
first edition
Fa i r c h i l d B o o k s , i n c .
new york
Tp
Hinchman design 2.indd 2-3 4/22/09 11:35:54 AM
2. FMH
conte nts
Preface 0
acknowledgments 0 chapter 14: neoclassical 000
chapter 1: Prehistory 0 chapter 15: Victorian and Historical revivals 000
chapter 2: ancient civilizations 00 chapter 16: reform movements: arts and crafts 000
chapter 3: classical civilizations 00 chapter 17: africa 000
chapter 4: early christian Byzantine 00 chapter 18: Japan Japanisme 000
chapter 5: romanesque Islamic 00 chapter 19: art nouveau 000
chapter 6: gothic 00 chapter 20: Proto modernism 000
chapter 7: the americas 00 chapter 21: Heroic modernism: myths and realities 000
chapter 8: from stupa to Pagoda and chapter 22: art deco, traditional design,
from mat to chair: china, India, and cambodia 00 and the rise of the decorato 000
chapter 9: renaissance 00 chapter 23: other modernisms 000
chapter 10: Baroque 000 chapter 24: after modernism: modernism continued,
chapter 11: rococo 000 Postmodernism, and deconstruction 000
chapter 12: england 000 glossary 000
chapter 13: In the colonies 000 Index 000
Hinchman design 2.indd 4-5 4/22/09 11:35:54 AM
3. York: Knopf, 2001.
c H a p t e r 8 CN
CT
f r o M s t u Pa to Pag o da
a n d f r o M M at to c H a i r CST
cHina , india , and caMbodia
1600 – 1050 bce 1050 – 256 bce 221 – 206 bce 206 BCE – 220 ce 618 – 907 ce 1279-1368 ce 1368 - 16�� ce
1368 - 16��
China TL
Shang dynasty Zhou dynasty Qin dynasty Han dynasty Tang dynasty Yuan dynasty �ing dynasty
�ing dynasty
i
2-li
ndia and China play major roles in Asian Ahead
arcHItecture and +
history, both for their geographic heft and large Bhead
sculPture
populations. A difference between them is that in
its early history, India was not a consolidated entity. china
India does, however, have the considerable distinction China plays a significant role in the fossil record of
of having been the birthplace of Buddha. China is the earliest human habitations, including the famous
the world’s longest continuous civilization, existing Peking Man. A long and productive neolithic period
as a unified cultural and political entity for some left a variety of archeological remains, including
4,000 years without interruption. In the twenty-first geometric pottery.
century China has the world’s largest population, but In the fourth millennium bce, a series of
even in its earlier periods it had a significantly large settlements lay in the area between the Yangzi
population. River and the Yellow River. These naturally well
Cambodia is one of South East Asia’s smaller irrigated river valleys were conducive to agriculture.
countries, but from the ninth to twelfth centuries, it Initially there were no major urban centers, but small
produced extremely fine examples of monumental settlements dispersed over a large area. Pottery sherds
architecture and sculpture. The Hindu and Buddhist and the remains of a kiln date to this period.
sculptures bear comparison to other representational One of the earliest Chinese capitals, a proto-urban
sculptures, such as those of ancient Greece and center, Zhengzhou, relied upon the waters of the
medieval Benin. They are informative about seating Yellow River. With Zhengzhou starts the tradition
postures, just as reliefs from the temples bear the only of each dynasty building its own capital city. A wall
traces of historic Cambodian furniture. surrounded the rectilinear shaped enclosure that
contained platforms upon which buildings stood.
Tombs have been found from this time period,
Fig. 8.1 Caption tk, caption tk, caption tk caption tk,
caption tk, caption tk,caption tk caption tk caption tk
known as Shang dynasty China. Prior to the Zhou
caption tk dynasty, there were numerous linguistic groups in
15
Hinchman design 2.indd 14-15 4/22/09 11:35:57 AM
4. 16 / History of Fu r nit u r e a n d In t e r ior D e sign Cl a s sic a l Ci v il iz at ions / 1
and material culture is an endeavor that includes visiting a stupa was to circumnavigate the mound,
considering the natural landscape, the body, clockwise. This was a processional homage but also a
represented body, building, and town-planning; all somatic activity that cleared the mind of extraneous
are interrelated to a diagrammatic pattern known as thoughts. At Sanchi, gateways to the precinct stand
the mandala, a common feature of many artworks at the four cardinal points. The gate at the front
and textile designs. blocks direct access, and prompts visitors to begin
One of the vestigial means of finding meaning on their meditative walk.
Earth, proto-architecture, occurred when indigenous The practice of visiting a stupa relates to a diagram
people picked out distinguishing landscape features which relates how followers of Buddhism understand
and in them saw meaning. Ayer’s Rock in Australia, themselves, their place on Earth, and Earth’s place
Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil, and Chimney Rock in in the cosmos. Over the course of centuries, stupas
the United States are all examples of this. Sometimes were built through the area that is now India and
the natural features are so extraordinary that it Nepal, and gradually spread eastward. While early
seems as though the landscapes themselves are a stupas were solid, they were followed with structures
part of the selection process. Mountains and fantastic that featured hollow domes. Stupas became more
promontories stand out from their surroundings and elaborate and architectural practice increasingly
clearly are important, a naturally occurring example emphasized the vertical. Sometimes the dome is
of rarified space. emphasized with a pole at its apex, furthering the
vertical thrust of the structure. One way of involving
stupas with impermanent ritual was to attach a
Bhead
india, afghanistan, and tibet banner to the chattri, drawing more attention to the
The next step for human involvement in creating stupa’s highest point. Hanging a banner on a stupa
meaning in landscape is to shape the landscape and was a further means to personalize the experience of
cap Fig. 8.3 Caption tk, caption tk, caption tk caption tk, caption tk, caption tk,caption tk caption tk caption tk caption tk natural materials. One of the earliest shifts from visiting the stupa. The banners that flew on stupas
caption tk caption tk caption tk caption tk caption tk caption tk caption tk.
seeing meaning in landscape to shaping landscape are some of the oldest surviving Asian textiles, today
involves the burial places of Buddha’s relics. He died protected in museums.
China. Zhou rulers enforced the use of Chinese, geographic term. It only acquired a national meaning at Kushinagara, his body was cremated, his remains An example of incorporating naturally oc-curring
thus creating a large, unified, linguistic geographical in the twentieth century. buried, and the mound of earth that covered his forms and rendering them more elaborate occurs at the
group. The Zhou had cast iron production, and remains became venerated. Over time, the mound caves of Ajanta (fig. 8.3). There, the stupa sits within
A head
created two cities, Luoyang and Xian, that still exist of earth was faced with either bricks or stone, an interior space, yet the process of circumnavigating
today. The teacher and philosopher Confucius (551 from stuPa to Pagoda thereby rendered permanent and more monumental, around the stupa remains. A limit to the stupa as the
– 479 bce) belongs to the Zhou period. The Zhou Buddha is one of the names given to the teacher and evolved into the stupa. The Stupa at Sarnath, sole element of a Buddhist architecture is that there
built a ritual ancestral temple complex at Fengchi, and enlightened one, also known as Gautama and Darnek, in India, is a simple yet powerful stupa that was no worship space separate from the stupa. The
circa 1000, which is one of the earliest versions of a Siddhartha. He lived in Northern India and Nepal. reveals the honest expression of facing a mound of caves of Ajanta provided a vocabulary and form for a
large-scaled building based on the typical Chinese The dates of his life are not certain, but one widely earth with permanent material (fig. 8.1). larger space to house multiple devotees, and formed
courtyard house. accepted scenario puts the years of his time on Earth Another early stupa, the Stupa at Sanchi, is a more the basis of subsequent Buddhist temples with
The English term “China” comes from the as 480 – 400 bce. The religion that resulted from his elaborate architectural composition that intertwines rectangular halls.
Qin dynasty (also referred to as the Ch’in dynasty). teachings, Buddhism, celebrates the enlightenment site, setting, and ritual (fig. 8.2). Buddhism was Some caves were utilized as they were, some
Chinese people today refer to the country as ‘China’ and eventual passage of Buddha and his followers largely a religion of meditation, involving recitation are a combination of found configuration and
or ‘Zhong guo’. The latter first appeared in a into nirvana. in front of a stupa, sculpture, or images, and later a elaborately carved-out architectural compositions.
Shang Dynasty document, but it was a cultural and Tracing Buddhism’s effect on art, architecture, pagoda, that housed Buddhist relics. The ritual of (In the kingdom of Bamiyan, today Afghanistan, in
Hinchman design 2.indd 16-17 4/22/09 11:35:58 AM
