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法帖譜系

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Text ID
KR2n0021
Date
1245–1245
Dynasty
宋

Fǎtiè pǔxì 法帖譜系

A Genealogy of the Calligraphy Anthologies

by 曹士冕 (Cáo Shìmiǎn, fl. 1240–1245)

About the work

A 2-juan systematic genealogy of all major Sòng fǎtiè (calligraphy-anthology) editions, compiled by Cáo Shìmiǎn and completed in yǐsì of Chúnyòu (1245). The structure is genealogical: juan 1 places the Chúnhuà fǎtiè 淳化法帖 at the head as the dàzōng 大宗 (main lineage), then traces 22 derived recensions — Èrwángfǔ tiè 二王府帖, the Shàoxīng Guózǐjiàn edition, the Chúnxī Xiūnèisī edition, Dàguān Tàiqīnglóu tiè 大觀太清樓帖, Línjiāng Xìyútáng tiè 臨江戲魚堂帖 (cf. KR2n0015), Lìzhōu tiè 利州帖, Qìnglì Chángshā tiè 慶歷長沙帖, Liúchéngxiàng sīdì běn 劉丞相私第本, Chángshè bēijiàngjiā běn 長涉碑匠家本, Chángshā xīnkè běn 長沙新刻本, Sānshān mùbǎn tiè 三山木版帖, Qiánjiāng tiè 黔江帖, Běifāng yìnchéng běn 北方印成本, Wūzhèn běn 烏鎭本, Fúqīng běn 福淸本, Lǐyáng tiè 灃陽帖, Dǐng tiè 鼎帖, an unknown-source Bùzhī chù běn 不知處本, Chángshā biéběn 長沙別本, Shǔ běn 蜀本, Lúlíng Xiāo-shi běn 廬陵蕭氏本, etc. Juan 2 places the Jiàngběn jiùtiè 絳本舊帖 (the Pān fùmǎ tiè; cf. KR2n0019) as the biézǐ 別子 (collateral lineage), with 14 sub-derivatives — Dōngkù běn, the Liàng character incomplete recension, the New Jiàng recension, the Northern recension, the Wǔgāng old/new editions, etc.

For each entry the work gives: the year and place of cutting, the source of the master copy, and a critical evaluation of workmanship and authenticity. The book is exceptionally important as the principal Sòng-era record of the rapidly proliferating fǎtiè tradition; many of the recensions Cáo describes are now lost or known only through his descriptions. The Shūshǐ huìyào 書史會要 says: “Cáo Shìmiǎn was deeply read in calligraphy and a careful follower of the Lántíng — naturally his connoisseurial judgement is not sloppy.”

Tiyao

[Translated from the Sìkù tíyào]

Compiled by Cáo Shìmiǎn of the Sòng. The Shūshǐ huìyào says: “Shìmiǎn, zì Duānkě, hào Táozhāi, descended from Chānggǔ — Chānggǔ being Cáo Yànyuē’s hào — therefore of Dūchāng. His official career is not documented, except that under the Sānshān mùbǎn tiè entry he self-identifies as ‘three-Mountain Marshal’s-Office storehouse-officer; in Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240) I was on the marshal’s staff, and saw past editions of the various calligraphy-tablets’. Under the Jiàngběn jiùtiè entry he says: ‘In Chúnyòu jiǎchén (1244) my Zhāzhōu prefectural tenure ended.‘” So he passed from staff-officer to prefectural office.

His book traces the origins of Sòng-era calligraphy anthologies. Juan 1 begins with a genealogy table: the Chúnhuà fǎtiè down through … [list of 22 recensions]; juan 2 from the Jiàngběn jiùtiè down through … [list of 14 recensions]. Hence the Chúnhuà gétiè is the main line, and the Jiàngtiè is the collateral; all the others are sub-branches. Each entry traces the cutting’s history and assesses its workmanship and authenticity — a useful resource for textual study.

The book was completed in yǐsì of Chúnyòu (1245), with a self-preface; cross-checking its internal datings, that is the second year after his Zhāzhōu tenure ended.

Abstract

The Fǎtiè pǔxì is the foundational fǎtiè genealogy in Chinese letters and the indispensable Sòng-era reference for the textual history of calligraphy-anthology cuttings. The catalog meta gives Cáo’s known floruit (“fl. 1240–1245”); the work itself is dated 1245 (Chúnyòu 5, yǐsì), set as both notBefore and notAfter here. Cáo’s two-fold genealogical structure — dàzōng (Chúnhuà as main lineage) and biézǐ (Jiàngtiè as collateral) — is modelled on Confucian clan-genealogy practice and applied to anthology-textual descent. This is the prototype of all later Chinese fǎtiè genealogy.

The work is most valuable for what it preserves of recensions otherwise lost:

  • The Èrwángfǔ tiè (a Wáng family-of-Wángmáng-era anthology);
  • The Sānshān mùbǎn tiè and Qiánjiāng tiè (regional Southern Sòng cuttings);
  • The Wūzhèn běn and Fúqīng běn (provincial late Sòng cuttings);
  • The Wǔgāng old/new and Yīnzhōu (Pán?) editions of the Jiàngtiè.

For most of these, the Pǔxì is the principal documentary witness.

CBDB 10844 records Cáo Shìmiǎn but supplies no dates. Wilkinson and Hervouet do not specifically discuss the Pǔxì but it is regularly cited in modern scholarship on Sòng calligraphy connoisseurship.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies:

  • Yáng Rénkǎi 楊仁愷, Zhōngguó shūhuà 中國書畫, on Sòng fǎtiè genealogies.
  • Robert E. Harrist Jr., The Landscape of Words (Washington UP, 2008), on Sòng calligraphy connoisseurship.
  • Patricia Ebrey, Accumulating Culture (Washington UP, 2008), on Sòng fǎtiè tradition.
  • Wáng Zhuàngzūn 王壯尊 and others on the Chúnhuà gétiè and its Sòng descent.

Other points of interest

The work’s distinction between Chúnhuà (palace-imperial) and Jiàng (Pān-family / provincial-treasury) lineages remains the standard categorisation of Sòng fǎtiè in modern scholarship. The 22 + 14 = 36 recensions Cáo enumerates also constitute the working vocabulary of Sòng calligraphy connoisseurship. Modern Chúnhuà gétiè surveys (e.g. Chí Lǐdìng 池立定’s research) regularly key their analysis to Cáo’s framework.

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