Zhēnguān gōngsī huàshǐ 貞觀公私畫史
Public-and-Private Painting History of the Zhēn-guān Era by 裴孝源 (Péi Xiàoyuán, Zhōngshū shèrén, fl. 639, 唐, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Péi Xiàoyuán’s 1-juan inventory of paintings in imperial-and-private Tang collections, compiled at the request of Hànwáng Lǐ Yuánchāng 漢王李元昌 in Zhēnguān 13 (639). The work catalogs paintings from Gāoguìxiānggōng (the late-Wèi Cáo Máo) through Zhēnguān 13 — a span of roughly 400 years — recording 298 juàn (scrolls) of paintings held in the Bìfǔ (Imperial Storehouse), Buddhist temples, and private collections, plus 47 wall-paintings.
The Sìkù 提要 records that the Tang Yìwén zhì lists Péi Xiàoyuán’s Huàpǐn lù with annotation “records ZhēnguānXiǎnqìng matters” — but the present work’s preface stops at Zhēnguān 13 and does not extend into the Xiǎnqìng (656-661) era. The 提要 hypothesizes that Péi Xiàoyuán wrote two separate works: a Huàpǐn lù in the Gǔhuà pǐnlù style (now lost), and the present Gōngsī huàshǐ inventory. Zhāng Yànyuǎn’s KR3h0009 Lìdài mínghuà jì cites the Huàpǐn lù extensively but the citations do not match the present work — confirming the two-work hypothesis.
The work’s substantive content: a list of 298 paintings with attribution, brief description, and provenance (e.g., 130 from the Suí imperial storehouse, 13 from Xiāo Yǔ 蕭瑀, 20 from Yáng Sù 楊素’s family, 30 from Xǔ Shànxīn 許善心, 10 from a Gāo-píng-county clerk, 4 from Chǔ An-fú, 18 from the Bìfǔ). Many paintings are noted as “possibly post-Jìn-Sòng” — i.e., suspected later forgeries.
The work is the principal Tang-period inventory of pre-Tang painting holdings; its data is foundational for the later painting-historical tradition.
For the broader Tang painting-historical literature, see KR3h0009 Lìdài mínghuà jì by Zhāng Yànyuǎn, KR3h0010 Tángcháo mínghuà lù by Zhū Jǐngxuán.
Tiyao
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