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法帖釋文

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Text ID
KR2n0015
Date
1086–1102
Dynasty
宋

Fǎtiè shìwén 法帖釋文

Transcriptions of the Calligraphic Models

by 劉次莊 (Liú Cìzhuāng, fl. 1086–1106)

About the work

A 10-juan philological work giving small-kǎi (regular-script) transcriptions of every piece in the imperial Chúnhuà gétiè 淳化閣帖 (993 / 992) — Liú Cìzhuāng’s contribution to fǎtiè connoisseurship being the systematic deciphering of the often illegible original cursive and zhuàn-script. Compiled originally as glosses cut into stone alongside the calligraphic models in Liú’s Línjiāng Xìyútáng tiè 戲魚堂帖 (probably late Yuányòu, c. 1090s), where Liú had recut the Chúnhuà gétiè, stripped out the original juan-end zhuàn-script titles, and added beside each piece a small-kǎi transcription of the legend or text. The Sìkù WYG copy is a later compilation that extracted these shìwén glosses from the Xìyútáng tiè and assembled them into a freestanding 10-juan book preserving the Chúnhuà gétiè original juan-and-piece order. The work is the prototype of the entire fǎtiè shìwén genre and remained the standard reference for Chúnhuà gétiè transcriptions; later expansions by Wāng Lìzhōng 汪立中 (Jiādìng era, early 13th c.) of Wǔgāng — who transferred Liú’s transcriptions into a 20-juan presentation of the Jiàngzhōu Pān-shi tiè 絳州潘氏帖 (i.e. the Jiàngtiè 絳帖) and supplemented them — produced a different work, also titled Fǎtiè shìwén, that is sometimes confused with Liú’s original.

Tiyao

Compiled by Liú Cìzhuāng of the Sòng. Cìzhuāng, zì Zhōngsǒu, was a man of Chángshā. During the Chóngníng era he served as yùshǐ 御史. Cáo Shìmiǎn’s Fǎtiè pǔxì KR2n0021 says: “The Línjiāng Xìyútáng tiè — Liú Cìzhuāng, in the Yuányòu era, took his family copy of the Chúnhuà gétiè in 10 juan and cut it onto stone, removing the juan-end zhuàn-script titles and adding shìwén.” Cèng Mǐnxíng’s Dúxǐng zázhì says: “Liú Diànyuàn Cìzhuāng was passionate about calligraphy from childhood. He once lived at Xīngàn 新淦, where the windows, lattices, walls, and dwellings he occupied were all written over with characters. The Línjiāng prefectural treasury holds 10 juan of Fǎtiè with small-kǎi transcriptions — something not seen in other fǎtiè.”

From these two records: Liú’s Fǎtiè shìwén was originally appended as inscriptions to the stone-cut models — never made as a separate book. The present text is a later compilation, extracted by hand from the Xìyútáng tiè and bound up, preserving the original imperial-court juan-numeration.

Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí KR2n0005 also notes that “a man of Wǔgāng once printed the Jiàngzhōu Pān-family tiè. In the Jiādìng era Wāng Lìzhōng took Liú’s text and distributed it through 20 juan, supplementing those tiè not in the imperial book.” The Jiàngtiè 絳帖 is itself an expansion of the Gétiè, and so Wāng’s shìwén is itself an expansion of Liú’s shìwén — a different book.

Abstract

The Fǎtiè shìwén is the foundational philological apparatus for the Chúnhuà gétiè transmission and the prototype of the fǎtiè shìwén genre. The catalog meta gives no precise date; Liú’s known yùshǐ tenure was Chóngníng (1102–1106) and Cáo Shìmiǎn’s testimony places the Xìyútáng cutting in the Yuányòu era (1086–1094); the work-window for the shìwén-as-stone-inscription is therefore set to notBefore 1086 and notAfter 1102 here. The compilation of the present free-standing book — extraction of the glosses from the Xìyútáng tiè — is a later transmissional event, not represented in the dating field.

The work’s importance is double: (i) for Chúnhuà gétiè studies, Liú’s transcriptions are the standard reference and the only systematic small-kǎi deciphering of the entire imperial-anthology corpus; (ii) for fǎtiè connoisseurship more generally, the format Liú established — juan-by-juan transcription glosses corresponding to the calligraphic original — became the convention for all subsequent fǎtiè compilations.

The work informed Huáng Bósī’s Fǎtiè kānwù KR2n0014 (1108), which corrects Mǐ Fú’s connoisseurial calls but presupposes Liú’s transcriptions for textual identification. Later expansions of the genre include:

  • Wāng Lìzhōng’s Jiādìng-era expansion (early 13th c.) for the Jiàngtiè (a SòngJīn expanded fǎtiè anthology) — a 20-juan version that builds on Liú’s nucleus.
  • Gù Cóngyì’s Fǎtiè shìwén kǎoyì 法帖釋文考異 KR2n0031 (Míng) — a comprehensive Míng critical re-collation.
  • Yú Mǐnzhōng et al.’s imperial Qīndìng chóngkè Chúnhuàgé tiè shìwén 欽定重刻淳化閣帖釋文 KR2n0035 (1769) — the Qing imperial standard.

The Sìkù editors note no specific lacunae or errors in Liú’s transcriptions; their entry is comparatively brief, focused on the textual transmission rather than substantive criticism.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies:

  • Yáng Rénkǎi 楊仁愷, Zhōngguó shūhuà 中國書畫, on the Chúnhuà gétiè and its philological apparatus.
  • Liào Wánshēng 廖萬生, “劉次莊《法帖釋文》考” — modern Chinese article on the textual transmission.
  • Robert E. Harrist Jr., The Landscape of Words: Stone Inscriptions in Early and Medieval China (Washington UP, 2008), with chapters on Sòng fǎtiè tradition.
  • Patricia Ebrey, Accumulating Culture (Washington UP, 2008), on Sòng calligraphy connoisseurship.

Other points of interest

The Xìyútáng tiè — Liú’s original stone cutting — is itself a major fǎtiè edition; surviving rubbings in libraries (Palace Museum, Tokyo, etc.) preserve some of the shìwén glosses in their original form. Modern scholarship can therefore compare the WYG free-standing-book transmission against the surviving stone rubbings to detect transcription drift.

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