汉画中九头人面兽探微

汉画中九头人面兽应为“开明兽”。汉画中的九头人面兽是汉代西王母崇拜在墓葬中的反映，是西王母神话的产物。作为艺术想象的产物，异常的外在形象给人强烈的视觉冲击和震撼，不符合常规的形象和其为西王母役畜的地位相称，在设构图计上显得自由随意，艺术风格上不同于商周时期青铜艺术的神秘狰狞，表现出汉代艺术的世俗化特征，对南北朝隋唐时期的人面兽身的镇墓兽产生了重大影响。“九首”为能力、智慧和不死的象征。“人首”是汉代人对人类自身能力肯定的必然产物。“虎身”是长期以来人类崇拜虎思想的孑遗。

A Tentative Analysis of the Nine-head Beast in the Chinese Stone Carving

The beast with nine human-faced heads in the Chinese stone carving is ＂kaiming beast＂, an object of worship of the Queen Mother of the West （ Xiwwangmu ）. Being a product of artistic imagination, the beast with unusual looking will leave the people a very strong visual impression and surprise. Corresponding to its status to serve the Queen Mother of the West as a beast with unusual appearance, its design seems unrestricted, different from the mysteriously fierce looking of the bronze carving in the art style in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty - a normal art style in the Han Dynasty. It exerted great influence on the tomb - guard beast with human face in the Sui and Tang Dynasty. ＂ Nine heads＂ is the symbol of being able, wise and immortal, and the ＂ human head＂ represents the positive affirmation of the power of the humans by the people in the Han Dynasty. In the same way, the ＂body of tiger＂ can be traced back to the worship of tiger for a long time in the country.