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蘭亭續考

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Text ID
KR2n0023
Date
1244–1244
Dynasty
宋

Lántíng xùkǎo 蘭亭續考

Continuation of the Investigation of the Orchid Pavilion [Preface]

by 俞松 (Yú Sōng, fl. ca. 1240–1244)

About the work

A 2-juan supplement to Sāng Shìchāng’s Lántíng kǎo KR2n0022, compiled by Yú Sōng in 1244 (Chúnyòu 4, jiǎchén) at his Hángzhōu Jǐngōu Hall 景歐堂. The title Xùkǎo is explicit about the relationship: Yú’s postscript says “in recent years a scholar made a Lántíng kǎo in many tens of thousands of characters, recording most of what the connoisseurs have said” — referring to Sāng’s work. But Yú’s structural plan is sharply different from Sāng’s: juan 1 records both Yú’s own Lántíng rubbings and other private holdings; juan 2 is wholly Yú’s own holdings, with colophons by Lǐ Xīnchuán 李心傳 (1167–1244) appended to many — these colophons dated Chúnyòu 1–3 (1241–1243) during Lǐ’s late Línān residence after his Shàoxīng bàcí 罷祠. Lǐ Xīnchuán is the famous Sòng historian (author of Jiànyán yǐlái xìnián yàolù 建炎以來繫年要錄 and Jiànyán yǐlái cháoyě záyì 建炎以來朝野雜記); his colophons here are also a major historical-prosopographical document (especially on the Sòng Qí stone-rubbing transmission, qīngshè shìfǎ 青社諡法, etc.).

Tiyao

[Translated and condensed from the Sìkù tíyào]

Compiled by Yú Sōng of the Sòng. Sōng, zì Shòuwēng (a separate Yú Tíngchūn, also zì Shòuwēng, was active in the same late-Sòng period — they should not be confused). He self-titles himself “Wúshān” — i.e. of Qiántáng. The postscript at the end says “written in the jiǎchén year at the Jǐngōu Hall” — Chúnyòu 4 (1244). His official career is not otherwise documented; only an imperial-copy colophon identifies him as chéngyì láng 承議郎; whether he ended in this rank we cannot say.

The book is a continuation of Sāng Shìchāng’s Lántíng kǎo, hence titled Xùkǎo. The postscript’s reference to “the recent Lántíng kǎo in many tens of thousands of characters … recording the connoisseurs’ notices” is to Sāng’s book. But the structural plan is quite different from Sāng’s: juan 1 records both Yú’s own holdings and other private ones; juan 2 records exclusively Yú’s holdings, with Lǐ Xīnchuán’s colophons appended. Lǐ’s colophons are dated Chúnyòu 1–3 (1241–1243). Examining the Sòngshǐ Lǐ Xīnchuán biography, this is during Lǐ’s post-bàcí residence at Línān after his retirement.

The earlier juan’s colophons recognise Yǒngjiā 永嘉’s mistake but still continue the Bǐzhèn tú claim that Wáng Xīzhī wrote the Lántíng at age 33 — the work’s adjudication, equally with Sāng’s, is incomplete. But Zhū Yízūn’s Pùshūtíng jí postscript praises the colophons as “smooth and clear, not like the obscure prose of the Dǒng Yǒu 董逌 school” — connoisseurs do approve. Lǐ Xīnchuán’s colophons are particularly versed in historical events: his discussions of Sòng Qí’s rubbings, the qīngshè shìfǎ and similar topics, supplement the historical record well — not mere book-painting notes.

The Sòngshǐ records Lǐ Xīnchuán’s bàcí of Chúnyòu 1 (1241), but does not date his earlier bàzhí 罷職 from the imperial historiographer’s office. Yú’s book has a colophon saying “at the end of Shàodìng (1233), I retired from the shǐzhí office and went home to live in seclusion” — establishing that Lǐ’s bàzhí was at the end of Shàodìng. This is a useful supplement to the Sòngshǐ.

Abstract

The Lántíng xùkǎo is the principal late-Sòng supplement to Lántíng kǎo KR2n0022 and a critical primary source for late-Southern-Sòng Lántíng connoisseurship. Yú Sōng compiled it in 1244 (Chúnyòu 4); the catalog meta dates “fl. 1065” is an obvious error — the Lǐ Xīnchuán (1167–1244) colophons preserved in juan 2 fix the work to the 1240s, set as both notBefore and notAfter here.

The work’s contributions:

  1. Yú’s own Lántíng holdings. A late-Sòng Hángzhōu connoisseur’s collection of Lántíng rubbings, with provenance and connoisseurial commentary — a rare surviving record of a single private Lántíng holding.
  2. Lǐ Xīnchuán colophons. Lǐ’s colophons (juan 2) are independently important — late notes by the great Sòng historian on Sòng Qí’s stone-rubbing transmission, on the qīngshè shìfǎ 青社諡法 (the SòngQí posthumous-name system), and other historical-cultural matters. They also document Lǐ’s late Línān period after his Shàodìng-end retirement from imperial historiographer’s office (a Sòngshǐ lacuna corrected by the colophons).
  3. Authorial-fingerprint method. Like Sāng’s Lántíng kǎo the work continues to discuss Wáng Xīzhī’s age and the Lántíng date but does not adjudicate fully — both works are best read together as a record of Sòng connoisseurship in process.

CBDB lists no entry for this Yú Sōng (the Tang-period 俞松 is unrelated).

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies as for Lántíng kǎo KR2n0022:

  • Lèi Dérùn 雷德潤 et al., Lántíng xué 蘭亭學.
  • Patricia Ebrey, Accumulating Culture (Washington UP, 2008).
  • For Lǐ Xīnchuán: Charles Hartman, The Making of Song Dynasty History (Cambridge UP, 2021), with material on Lǐ’s career and historiographical method.
  • For Lántíng connoisseurship: Lothar Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy (Princeton UP, 1979).

Other points of interest

The Lǐ Xīnchuán colophon noting “at the end of Shàodìng I retired from the historiographer’s office” supplies a date (Shàodìng 末 = 1233) for Lǐ’s first dismissal from imperial historiography — a fact missing from his Sòngshǐ biography. The Sìkù editors flag this as a useful supplement to the dynastic history.

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