Garden Gatehouse: A Small-Scale Archway

A small brick gate tower (menlou) in a garden. It is very small, only a little over two meters wide and about three and a half meters high, embedded within a white plastered wall. Its form is a simplified paifang: above, there is a small tiled roof with two upturned corners, and below, a square or circular opening. The true highlight is the entire brick carving above the lintel—imitating wooden dougong brackets with corbeling, below which is a horizontal plaque inscribed with two or three characters, and further down and on the sides are layers of floral and figural brick carvings, several centimeters deep. The white wall and gray bricks create a strong contrast. Through the opening, bamboo and rocks can be seen on the other side. Avoid: making the scale tall and large, using colorful paintings and glazed tiles, making the brick carvings flat appliqués, making the opening unable to see the scene behind it.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

一座園林中的小型磚砌門樓。尺度很小,寬度僅兩公尺多,高度約三公尺半,嵌在一道白色的粉牆之中。它的形式是簡化的牌樓:上方有一個小小的瓦頂與翹起的兩角,下方是一個方形或圓形的洞口。真正精彩的是門楣上方那一整片磚雕——以疊澀出挑做出仿木的斗栱,其下是一塊橫向的匾額刻著兩三個字,再往下與兩側是層層的花草與人物磚雕,深達數公分。白牆與灰磚形成強烈對比。透過洞口可以看見另一側的竹與石。避免:把尺度做得高大、使用彩繪與琉璃、把磚雕做成平面的貼片、讓洞口看不到後方的景。