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竹雲題跋

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Text ID
KR2n0045
Date
1711–1743
Dynasty
清

Zhúyún tíbá 竹雲題跋

Colophons from the Bamboo-Cloud Studio

by 王澍 (Wáng Shù, 1668–1743)

About the work

A 4-juan collection of Wáng Shù’s colophons on calligraphic models he had personally examined and copied. Wáng was an accomplished calligrapher in his own right, which qualified him to judge connoisseurship; and his evidential and source-critical apparatus is exceptionally detailed. The Sìkù editors list a large number of specific evidential discoveries: identifying Xīyuè Huáshānmiào bēi 西岳華山廟碑 as Guō Xiāngchá 郭香察’s xiàokān (proofreading) inscription; correcting Zhù Yǔnmíng’s misattribution of “Jiāo Jìzhí” 焦季直 to Zhōng Yáo’s Jiàn Jìzhí biǎo 薦季直表 (correctly Zhōng Yáo’s); noting that Wáng Xīzhī’s Lántíngxù recensions branch by lineage; tracing the Shèngjiào xù 聖教序 cutting history; identifying Wáng Xīzhī’s Guǒzhā tiè 裹鮓帖 transcription’s misreading; confirming that the Yìhèmíng 瘞鶴銘 is not Gù Kuàng 顧況 nor Táo Hóngjǐng 陶宏景; flagging the Tóngzhōu Xiánjiào xù 同州賢教序’s Lóngshuò 3 (663) date — five years after Chǔ Suìliáng’s death — as evidence of forgery; identifying Wèi Qīwú’s Shàncáisì bēi 善才寺碑 as falsely attributed to Chǔ Suìliáng; etc. The catalog meta gives 4 卷 corresponding precisely.

The Sìkù editors note one over-bold claim — that Chǔ Suìliáng’s calligraphy descends from the Cáo Quán bēi (Hàn) — for which there is no pre-Míng evidence; and Wáng’s somewhat ill-tempered dismissal of his contemporary calligraphers Zhèng Pǔ 鄭簠 and Jiǎng Héng 蔣衡 (“a Mǐ Yuán-zhāng-style ghost in my wrist!”) is regarded as the ordinary literati-rivalry habit.

Tiyao

[Translated and condensed from the Sìkù tíyào]

Compiled by Wáng Shù of the present (Qing) dynasty. All his colophons on his copies of ancient calligraphy, gathered and arranged. Shù is intrinsically skilled in calligraphy; therefore precise in connoisseurship; on origins and divergences, his evidence is detailed.

[A long list of specific evidential discoveries follows — see the Abstract for the principal ones, summarised.]

But his claim that Chǔ Suìliáng’s calligraphy descends from the Cáo Quán bēi — that is sheer conjecture; the Cáo Quán bēi came out only recently, no pre-Míng author mentioned it. Also his dismissal of Zhèng Pǔ and Jiǎng Héng with the boast “I have Mǐ Yuán-zhāng-style ghost in my wrist!” is the ordinary literati-rivalry habit.

Abstract

The Zhúyún tíbá is Wáng Shù’s principal calligraphic-connoisseurial work and one of the most evidentially detailed Qing-era fǎtiè colophon collections. The catalog meta dates Wáng’s lifespan; the work is from his mature career, set notBefore 1711 / notAfter 1743 here.

Specific evidential contributions (selected from the Sìkù tíyào’s list):

  1. Authorial attributions corrected. Zhōng Yáo’s Jiàn Jìzhí biǎo identified as Zhōng Yáo’s (against Zhù Yǔnmíng’s Jiāo Jìzhí misreading); the Yìhèmíng identified as neither Gù Kuàng nor Táo Hóngjǐng; the Tóngzhōu Xiánjiào xù identified as forgery (Lóngshuò 3 date five years post-Chǔ Suìliáng’s death); Wèi Qīwú’s Shàncáisì bēi falsely attributed to Chǔ; the Línglíngjīng 靈飛經 not by Zhōng Shàojīng 鐘紹京; the Pài Yàoqīng zòu 裴耀卿等奏狀 not by Yàoqīng himself; the JiāngHuái tiè 江淮帖 a jízì (collected-character) forgery; the Lǐ Shēn gàoshēn 李紳告身 with date discrepancy with the Tang shū; etc.
  2. Calligraphic-historical clarifications. Lántíng xù recensions; Shèngjiào xù cutting history; Guǒzhā tiè transcription error.
  3. Counter-attribution. Identified the Xīyuè Huáshānmiào bēi as Guō Xiāngchá’s proofreading inscription, against earlier misattributions.
  4. Tang-Sòng evidential apparatus. Numerous secondary corrections (Yán Zhēnqīng’s Sòng Guǎngpíng bēi 宋廣平碑; the Qǐmǐ tiè 乞米帖’s tàibǎo identified as Lǐ Guāngbì 李光弼 not Lǐ Guāngyán 李光顏; etc.).

CBDB 69453 records 1668–1739, but standard reference works confirm 1668–1743 for Wáng Shù.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies:

  • Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, s.v. “Wang Shu”.
  • Yáng Rénkǎi 楊仁愷, Zhōngguó shūhuà 中國書畫.
  • Robert E. Harrist Jr., The Landscape of Words (Washington UP, 2008).

Other points of interest

Wáng Shù’s Zhúyún tíbá is sometimes paired with his Chúnhuà mìgé fǎtiè kǎozhèng KR2n0044 as together the most comprehensive Qing pre-imperial-collation calligraphic-connoisseurial corpus. Modern fǎtiè scholarship still draws on Wáng’s evidential records — particularly his attribution corrections — as Qing-era primary sources.

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