tiānhuā 天花

Note

The term tianhua 天花 refers to a type of ceiling in traditional Chinese architecture, and its use was most common in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Literally meaning “heavenly flowers,” the semantic range for the compound is quite rich. We see the compound first used in the Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period where it referred to flowers falling from the heavens (e.g. Kumarajiva 405, T 1509: 25.616b27-28; Gautama 397, T 26: 1.727a-b). The first documented use of tianhua in reference to a ceiling is in the Southern Song dynasty Weilue《緯略》 (Gao 1841, 5.3a). In the Ming and Qing dynasties, tianhua was also written as tianhua ban 天花板(版) (Wen 1621, 1.4a; Fang 1664, 38.9a) and in most cases the two terms are synonymous. The term tianhuaban is still used today for ceilings.

Tianhua are used in both official and private buildings. Gongcheng zuofa《工程做法》(1734) includes detailed descriptions of tianhua, including the names of its components and the method of determining its size based on its structure (Gongbu 1734, 1.9b). In contrast to pingqi 平棊, in tianhua a grid supports a set of individual panels, which enables them to be prefabricated and be easily replaced. Whereas in pingqi, the grid is placed above the lowest beams (liang 梁), in tianhua, the grid is connected to the sides of the lowest beams.

GCZF illustrates two types of tianhua: the one in which the grid is exposed is called gejing tianhua 隔井天花 (ceiling divided like the character meaning “well” jing 井) or longjing tianhua 龍井天花 (dragon-well ceiling); the one in which the grid is obscured by paper and cloth is called haiman tianhua 海墁天花 (fully-coated ceiling) (Wang 1995, 52). The former emphasizes order, while the latter allows for more freedom in decoration, presenting a different interior experience.

The material record documents a wide variety of tianhua in addition to the two types illustrated in Gongcheng zuofa. For example, the ceiling in Dazheng Hall of the Shenyang Imperial Palace (Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 1625) has trapezoidal panels rather than the more standard grid because of its unusual pyramidal roof (Kong 2010). Tianhua in private buildings generally have no painted decorations, but their forms are highly diverse. In southern China, for instance, they might look like an inverted dipper or just a flat board (Shi 2005, 59-62).3

天花作為建築名詞指中國古代建築室內的頂棚做法，該術語在明清時期得到大量使用。

「天花」一詞含義豐富。最早出現於南北朝時期的漢譯佛經（例如鳩摩羅什 405, T 1509: 25.616b27-28; 瞿曇僧伽提婆 397, T 26: 1.727a-b），為字面意義的天花。作為建築室內頂棚的「天花」最早出現在南宋高似孫的雜考筆記《緯略》中 (高 1841, 5.3a)，明清時期這一含義已廣泛見於各類文獻。明清時期作為建築構件的「天花」也常寫作「天花板（版）」（文 1621.1.4a; 方 1664.38.9a），大多數情況下二者是同義詞。

天花是一類從官式建築到民居都普遍使用的頂棚做法，做法非常多樣。《工程做法》主要記載了官式建築的天花構件名稱，以及根據大木構件確定天花尺寸的方法（工部 1734, 1.9b）。天花以柵格承托木板，形式與平棊類似，但不同的是，天花的每格支撐一塊木板，因而這些木板可以預先製作，且易於替換。而且天花的格條掛於最下一層梁的側面，而平棊的格條則是放置與梁的上面。

《工程做法》記載了兩種外觀不同的天花：表面有方格井的天花稱為隔井天花或龍井天花；表面被紙和布等材料糊上而看不出內部構造的，稱為海墁天花或軟天花(王 1995, 52)。一個強調秩序，一個則更加自由，呈現出完全不同的室內感受。

除了《工程做法》規定的這兩種天花，實例中的天花更為豐富。如清關外「後金」時期遺存的沈陽故宮天花，其大政殿天花的分格並就非方形，而是根據其八角攢尖結構劃分為梯形方格（孔 2010）。民居中的天花普遍沒有彩畫，但形態更加多變。如中國南方民居中有覆斗天花和平頂天花等（石 2005, 59-62）。3

Related concepts

平闇 píng'àn

平棊 píngqí

藻井 zǎojǐng

Broad Match: ceilings and ceiling components