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The Caisson (Chinese: 藻井; pinyin: zǎojǐng; lit. 'algae well'), also referred to as a caisson ceiling, or zaojing, in East Asian architecture is an archiectural feature typically found in the ceiling of temples and palaces, usually at the centre and directly above the main throne, seat, or religious figure. The caisson is generally a sunken panel set into the otherwise largely flat ceiling. It is often layered and richly decoracted. Common shapes include square, octagon, hexagon, circle, and a combination of these.
History
Caisson (alternatively called caissons, or lacunaria) were first formed by crossing wood ceiling beams of a ceiling. The earliest surviving examples are stone coffering built by the ancient Greeks and Romans as the Propylaea in Athens, in which the stone-coffered ceiling still shows signs of decorative painting. Interest in the caisson was revived in the Renaissance period and became common in Baroque and Neoclassical styles of architecture, both religious and secular.
Name
The caisson is a general name for an enclosure or chamber used in engineering, often used by a body of water or to give access to underwater areas for engineering works. See: caisson in the wikipedia dictionary. It is occasionally used to refer to any sunken object in water. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines "caisson" as:
a chest to hold ammunition
- b: a usually 2-wheeled vehicle for artillery ammunition attachable to a horse-drawn limber;
- also : a limber with its attached caisson2
- a: a watertight chamber used in construction work under water or as a foundation
- b: a hollow floating box or a boat used as a floodgate for a dock or basin
A less common use is as a panel placed in the ceiling. This feature is more commonly known as the coffer. For other meanings, see Caisson. In the case of East Asian architecture, however, the caisson is characterised by highly developed conventions as to its structure and placement. It is known in Chinese as zaojing, a name which is a combination of zǎo (aquatic plants) and jǐng (well). However, this use is not the same architectural feature as otherwise described in this article, as this use of zaojing has nothing to do with religion or religious figures.
Structure
The caisson is a sunken panel placed in the centre of the ceiling. It is raised above the level of the ceiling through the use the dougong (斗栱) structure, which, through interlocking structural members, creates successive levels of diminishing size. Beams may also be used to create a hexagonal or octagonal caisson surrounded by a square border. These beams, and the dougong members, are usually visible, and richly carved and often painted. The zaojing resembles an intricately carved or painted dome, coffer or cupola.
The centre of the caisson is decorated with a large bas-relief carving or painting. Common themes include "two dragons chasing the pearl. Caissons in the throne rooms of the Forbidden City feature a large, writhing dragon, from whose mouth issue a chandelier-like structure called the Xuanyuan Mirror, a series of metal balls which are said to be able to show reflections of evil spirits. This does not refer to zaojing as the beliefs of the creators of the early zaojing craftsmen, from whence the name originated, were not known.
Caissons were originally used to support skylights. However, they became increasingly intricate and formalised, and were in later periods a standard item of interior decoration in formal buildings.
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Use in other structures
The caisson has been found in tombs of the Han Dynasty dating the use of this architectural feature back at least 2,000 years.
In traditional Chinese architecture, around 2000 B.C., the Chinese began the practice of ornamenting every aspect of a dwelling. Homes were decorated using various materials available and techniques. Simple ceilings in simple dwellings 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 of larger homes.
The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the caisson. Because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the caisson 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 a cupula, which (stretching the term could be called a caisson for the purposes of this article) in the flat- topped antechamber leading to the passageway to her tomb which was under a huge mound. 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. Zaojing are frequently found in Han Dynasty tombs.
As the caisson became increasingly standard in formal architecture in ancient China, similar structures also appeared in Buddhist grottos, such as in Dunhuang. These sunken panels in the ceiling of grottos would be carved to imitate the dougong-based structure in wooden buildings.
Cultural significance
As well as being decorative, 2000 years ago, caissons were associated with the element of Water (being an "algae well" or zaojing), and thus is believed to help prevent fire, an important concern in the predominantly wooden buildings of classical Chinese architecture of the turn of the millinium.
Notes
- ^ "浅谈法海寺曼陀罗的深刻内涵 (Deep meaning of the Mandala in the Fahai Temple in Brief)" (in Chinese). Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Caisson ceiling (Zaojing)". peopledaily.com. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - ^ "coffer". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - "caisson". From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
{{cite web}}: Text "Date: 2007" ignored (help) - "Caisson". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- Oxford English Dictionary, (1989) Oxford University Press, caisson
- "礼制对中国古建筑的影响 (Influence of Rites on Ancient Chinese Architecture)" (in Chinese). Construction Engineering Education Net. 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Steinhardt, Nancy W. (2002). Chinese Architecture (English Ed. ed.). Yale University Press. pp. p. 8. ISBN 0-300-09559-7.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|pages=has extra text (help) - Yu, Zhuoyun (1984). Palaces of the Forbidden City. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-53721-7.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help), pp 253ff - "Caisson ceiling". chinainfoonline.com. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - Xinian, Fu (2002). Chinese Architecture -- The Three Kingdoms, Western and Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties (English Ed. ed.). Yale University Press. pp. p. 76. ISBN 0-300-09559-7.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|pages=has extra text (help) - Daiheng, Gao (2002). Chinese Architecture -- The Liao, Song, Xi Xia, and Jin Dynasties (English Ed. ed.). Yale University Press. pp. pp 134–135. ISBN 0-300-09559-7.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|pages=has extra text (help)
See also
External links
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