Estimations of manpower for Dou Ke in chapter 64 of the book Gong Cheng Zuo Fa Ze Li

摘要

Estimations of carving/turnery artisan labor in making Dou Ke are explicitly described in chapter 64 Diao Luan Zuo of the Chinese classical architecture book Gong Cheng Zuo Fa Ze Li. Dou Ke is an important structural member of Chinese architecture. In this paper, the recording order and the rules for these estimations were analyzed and compared with another classical architecture book Ying Zao Fa Shi. As a result, it can show that estimations of manpower for Dou Ke are very comprehensive and detailed in the Qing dynasty. Besides, these estimations are determined by the number of Zan and components rather than carving techniques, motifs, dimensions and so on. Zan is the unit of a set of Dou Ke.