lùtái 露臺

Note (full)

Literally meaning “dew terrace” or “exposed terrace” (Kroll 285; 440), a lutai is a raised platform within a building complex. In the literature of the Han and Tang dynasties, lutai referred specifically to a structure built by Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty. The term later appeared in a large number of Song dynasty texts to indicate a space for the performance of theater, music, and dance in cities, private gardens, and temples, as well as the places at which sacrifices were made to the gods. There are also a few records that refer to the platform of the ramp of the city gate as a lutai (Li 2009,15.3b).2

In Song dynasty literature, the term lutai was mainly used to describe an independent open-air platform in front of high-ranking buildings. In Liao and Jin dynasty textual sources, lutai usually indicated the platform which protrudes from the front of a building, however, based on Jin dynasty steles, such as the building plan of the Temple to the Central Peak (“大金承安重修中嶽廟圖,” Figure 1), the term lutai could still be used to describe freestanding and exposed platforms. Extant buildings and other visual evidence from the Liao and Jin suggest that open-air platforms called lutai protruded from the fronts of buildings and were connected to the building’s foundation, either on the same level or slightly lower. In the Yuan dynasty, lutai generally referred to a platform that protrudes from the front of the building. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the meaning of lutai encompassed all open-air platforms.

From the Song dynasty, the term lutai was used within a large number of documents in relation to themes of deity worship. Thus, the name and structure of lutai may have continued to refer to the lutai of Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty at some level through at least the thirteenth century. This interpretation requires further research.

“露臺”作為一類構築物的名稱，廣泛出現于宋代文獻，主要指建築物前獨立的露天臺子；從遼文獻与实物看，遼王朝內露臺主要指建築正面向前突出的台基，金也同樣；但金的圖像資料（“大金承安重修中嶽廟圖”）表明此时露台仍有独立露天台子的含义。元代承襲了正面向前突出的台基的建築形製和對應稱呼，明清時期更擴大了使用範圍，泛指露天的臺子。

漢唐文獻中“露臺”均特指漢文帝時期露臺典故（班 1962, 134；或《貞觀政要》卷6）。“露臺”作為一類構築物的稱呼，大量出現於宋代文獻中，主要用於城市開放場所中妓樂表演；私人宅園的樂舞表演；或祠廟中表演歌舞、擺放祭品以敬獻神靈的臺，等等。偶爾有記載將城門墁道中的平臺稱為露臺（李 2009,15.3b）。3

遼金官方文獻中，宮殿建築前的“凸臺”被稱為“露臺”（脫脫 1974， 855）。唐、五代、宋代、遼、金的現存建築中，唐、五代、北宋幾十座建築除南禪寺大殿外均無殿前凸臺，而遼、金大部分建築及一些南宋建築有露臺。說明“殿前凸臺”在遼金建築中成為較為固定的形製，並被稱為“露台”。4

元代承襲了以“露臺”指代“殿前凸臺”的用法，並成為元代以後的主要用法。但元代殿前的露臺仍繼承了宋金用來“舞樂”的功能.（《道園學古録》卷之二十三）明清時期“露台”一詞依然用於指代“殿前凸臺”，但露臺的使用場所進一步擴大，用途也更為廣泛。

宋代開始廣泛出現的“露臺”，從其使用場合看，有一定的敬神含義，其名稱與構造方式在意向上可能與漢文帝的露臺有相通之處，但仍需進一步研究。（ATTCAT 2021）

Broad Match: foundations