dougong

  1. Home
  2. top of the aat hierarchies
  3. Objects Facet
  4. Components (hierarchy name)
  5. components (objects parts)
  6. [components by specific context]
  7. architectural elements
  8. [structural elements and components for structural elements]
  9. structural elements
  10. [spanning and projecting structural elements]
  11. brackets (structural elements)
  12. dougong
Scope note
Dougong refers to a unit consisting of a number of mortised bearing blocks (dou 斗), arms (gong 栱), tie-beams (fang 枋) and inclined beams (ang 昂). They are often used under the eaves, on beams, or on the tops of pillars.The first use of the term dougong as a compound word can be traced to the Sui dynasty translation of the Yaoshi rulai benyuan jing (Dharmagupta trans. 616 CE, Taishō 449): “The city-gate towers, walls and parapets, doors and windows, halls and pavilions, pillars and beams, blocks and bracket arms (dougong 斗拱), surrounding like a net, are all composed of the seven jewels.” After the Sui dynasty, dougong gradually became a set technical term and can be found in a number of different textual sources. The earliest known material evidence for dougong is the dragon-phoenix table-base excavated from the Warring States Period Zhongshan royal necropolis in Pingshan, Hebei province (ca. 310 BCE; ZHONG Xiaoqing, 2010：113-119). From the Han dynasty onward we have many extant examples of dougong in the visual record.
dougong
Accepted term: 29-Apr-2024