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石墨鐫華

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Text ID
KR2n0033
Date
1585–1620
Dynasty
明

Shímò juānhuā 石墨鐫華

Stone-Ink Engravings’ Splendour

by 趙崡 (Zhào Hán, fl. ca. 1585–1620)

About the work

A 6-juan + 2-juan-appendix late-Míng jīnshí compendium covering 253 stelae personally collected by Zhào Hán over more than thirty years. Zhào lived near the old Hàn and Tang capitals (Shǎnxī Zhōuzhì) and had access to many ancient and Tang-Sòng stelae unknown elsewhere. He was unable to print the full inscription texts (he says: “the workmen could not be supported”), so the surviving form is a colophon-only book — like Ōuyáng’s Jígǔ lù — with brief critical apparatus on each. The title is taken from Liú Xié’s Wénxīn diāolóng “lěibēi piān” line “shímò juānhuā”, and Zhào explains that yǒu shí wú jīn — “there is stone but no metal” — i.e. only stone inscriptions, no bronze, are covered. Each stele is annotated for location (on Chén Sī’s Bǎokè cóngbiān model). For Jīn-Yuán-era guóshū (Jurchen-script and Mongol-script imperial script) stelae rarely seen, Zhào sketches the characters out (gōulè) on Ōuyáng’s Jígǔ lù model.

The 2-juan appendix contains 3 jì and poems documenting Zhào’s stele-rubbing expeditions — a record of his collecting labour over decades.

Tiyao

[Translated and condensed from the Sìkù tíyào]

Compiled by Zhào Hán of the Míng. Hán, zì Zǐhán, of Zhōuzhì. Wànlì yǐyǒu (1585) jǔrén. His home was near the Hàn-Tang former capitals; many ancient stelae nearby. He was passionate about jīnshí and pursued it; he carried paper and ink searching for rubbings; for inscriptions he could not visit, he requested rubbings from friends in office across the country. Over 30+ years he accumulated a large stock of rubbings.

His self-preface says: “What I collected exceeds Dōu Mù KR2n0030 and Yáng Shèn 楊愼; compared with Ōuyáng Xiū I am at one-third; compared with Zhào Míngchéng KR2n0013 only one-tenth. But for SòngYuán and earlier inscriptions, many are not in Ōu’s or Zhào’s.” He wished to print the full inscription text, but lacked workmen, so he printed only the báwěi — 253 pieces.

The title Shímò juānhuā comes from Liú Xié’s Wénxīn diāolóng “lěibēi piān” line; Zhào explains that he covers stone only, no bronze.

Each stele’s index entry is annotated with its location, on Chén Sī’s Bǎokè cóngbiān model.

For Jīn-Yuán-era guóshū (national-script — Jurchen, Mongol) stelae rarely seen, Zhào sketches the character-forms (gōulè) on Ōuyáng’s Jígǔ lù model. The format is comprehensively detailed.

But the colophons emphasise calligraphy and slight evidential research. Hence the Gōuluò 岣嶁 stele [Yǔbēi at Mt. Héng], the Bǐgān mùmíng 比干墓銘, and the like — all left at liǎngduān (both possibilities). His calligraphy critique on Liǔ Gōngquán 柳公權, Mèngyīng 夢英, Sū Shì 蘇軾, and Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 is dissatisfied — perhaps over-attached to one school. But this is normal for fǎtiètíshí; even Ōuyáng’s Jígǔ lù has occasional inconsistencies — not just Zhào’s fault.

His stele coverage is not exhaustive — he was a scholar of modest means and his collecting hit a natural limit. The 2-juan appendix gives 3 jì and poems; one can see his collecting labour was thorough. We need not blame him for omissions.

Abstract

The Shímò juānhuā is one of the most important late-Míng provincial jīnshí compendia and is particularly valuable for Hàn-Tang capital-region stelae. The catalog meta dates the work to 1585; that is Zhào’s jǔrén year. The compilation actually spans 30+ years, set here notBefore 1585 / notAfter 1620.

The work’s contributions:

  1. Late-Míng Shǎnxī provincial focus. A regional collector’s record of inscriptions in his immediate cultural-geographical surroundings — the old Hàn-Tang capital region — supplementing the Bǎokè cóngbiān and other comprehensive works.
  2. Jurchen and Mongol script-traces. Sketched character-forms for non-Chinese-script stelae (Jīn and Yuán). One of the few Míng compendia to attempt this.
  3. Auto-documentation of collecting practice. The 2-juan appendix’s records of Zhào’s collecting expeditions is a rare first-person account of late-Míng jīnshí fieldwork.
  4. Critical reservations. Zhào’s reluctance to commit to attribution on long-controversial inscriptions (the Yǔbēi at Gōuluò; the Bǐgān grave-stele) shows mature scepticism.

CBDB has no entry for Zhào Hán. The Sìkù editors’ notes on the workshop on which Zhào could afford suggest he was a moderately-resourced provincial scholar who maximally extended his project given his means.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies:

  • Robert E. Harrist Jr., The Landscape of Words (Washington UP, 2008), on Míng jīnshí.
  • Yáng Rénkǎi 楊仁愷, Zhōngguó shūhuà 中國書畫.
  • Lì Yùhuá 李玉華 et al. on regional Míng-era jīnshí practice.

Other points of interest

Zhào Hán’s Shímò juānhuā and Guō Zōngchāng 郭宗昌’s Jīnshí shǐ KR2n0034 are paired in the Sìkù sequence as the two principal late-Míng Shǎnxī-area jīnshí compendia, both compiled in the same provincial cultural context. Sūn Chéngzé 孫承澤 (Qing) used both as principal sources for his Gēngzǐ xiāoxià jì 庚子銷夏記.

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