Fǎshū yàolù 法書要錄
Essential Records of Calligraphic Models by 張彥遠 (Zhāng Yànyuǎn, 9th cent., 唐, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
The single most important Táng compendium of pre-Táng and Táng calligraphic literature. In 10 juàn, Zhāng Yànyuǎn collects in extenso the surviving writings of more than thirty authors on calligraphy from the Later Hàn down to Yuánhé 元和 (806–820): canonical treatises (Wáng Xīzhī’s Lùnshū 論書, Wèi Fūrén’s Bǐzhèn tú 筆陣圖, Yáng Xīn’s Cǎinéng shūrén míng 采能書人名, Yú Hé’s Lùnshū biǎo 論書表, Yú Jiānwú’s Shūpǐn lùn 書品論, Yuán Áng’s Gǔjīn shūpíng 古今書評, etc.), critical and theoretical essays by the Liùcháo and Táng masters (Wáng Sēngqián, Liáng Wǔdì, Yú Jiānwú, Lǐ Sìzhēn, Xú Hào, Hé Yánzhī, Cuī Bèi, Lǐ Yuē), the four monumental Zhāng Huáiguàn treatises (Shūhuà 書話, ÈrWáng děng shūlù 二王等書錄, Shūyì 書議, Wénzì lùn 文字論), plus the Shùshū fù by Dòu Jì KR3h0007, the Shūduàn by Zhāng Huáiguàn KR3h0006, and the Yòujūn shūjì 右軍書記 (the master-record of works ascribed to Wáng Xīzhī). Where the original work was already lost in Zhāng’s day (Wáng Yīn’s Wénzì zhì 文字志), he reproduces at least the table of contents. The compilation preserves the bulk of pre-Táng calligraphic theory and is the unique source for many of the texts it transmits.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Fǎshū yàolù in ten juàn, by Zhāng Yànyuǎn of the Táng. The book opens with Yànyuǎn’s own preface, which gives only his clan-seat but not his offices or titles; Guō Ruòxū’s Túhuà jiànwén zhì KR3h0017 and Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì know him only by his zì, Àibīn 愛賓, and do not detail his family. Máo Jìn of the Míng accordingly tagged the bá of his edition only with “the Zhāngs of Hédōng.” Now cross-checking the Xīn Tángshū genealogical table and biographies against Yànyuǎn’s own preface, we know that Yànyuǎn was the great-great-grandson of Zhāng Jiāzhēn 嘉貞, zǎixiàng under Mínghuáng. The “Hédōng gōng” of the great-great-grandfather mentioned in the preface is Jiāzhēn; the “Wèiguógōng” of the great-grandfather is Yánshǎng 延賞 (Tóng pínɡzhānɡshì); the “Gāopínggōng” of the grandfather is Hóngjìng 弘靖 (Tóng pínɡzhānɡshì); the “shàngshū” father is Wénguī 文規, Guāncháshǐ of Guìguǎn. The Tángshū has biographies of all of them, but Yánshǎng’s enfeoffment as Wèiguógōng is recorded only in Yànyuǎn’s preface. The biography further records that Yànyuǎn was widely learned and a man of letters, attaining Dàlǐ qīng in the Qiánfú 乾符 era — though the genealogical table makes him Cíbù yuánwàiláng; the biography is to be preferred. The book closes with the Huàpǔ; its biography there gives Yànyuǎn’s grandfather’s name as Rěn 稔, on what basis is unknown — apparently a misreading of the Tángshū. The history further records that the Hóngjìng household amassed calligraphy and paintings on a par with the imperial library, and that Yànyuǎn inherited the surplus — hence his exceptionally wide acquaintance with the originals. This compilation collects the calligraphic discourse of the ancients from the Eastern Hàn to Yuánhé 元和, in every case copying the original text in full; for works he had not seen, such as Wáng Yīn’s Wénzì zhì, he preserves only the table of contents. Its sequence is most detailed and ample. He does not himself adjudicate, but occasional notes such as those after Lǐ Sìzhēn’s Hòu shūpǐn may be Yànyuǎn’s own additions. The Yìwén lüè records some sixty-odd works on calligraphic models from the Hàn to the Táng; most are now lost. The writings of Yú Jiānwú, Zhāng Huáiguàn and Dòu Jì come down to us only through this book — so the work of gathering and editing here cannot be effaced. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 42 (1777), eighth month. Chief compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Zhāng Yànyuǎn 張彥遠 (zì Àibīn 愛賓, fl. mid-9th cent.) was the great-great-grandson of the prime minister Zhāng Jiāzhēn 張嘉貞 (666–729); the family seat at Hédōng 河東 accumulated an enormous calligraphy and painting collection over four generations, which gave Zhāng his unparalleled documentary base. The Fǎshū yàolù and his sister-work KR3h0009 Lìdài mínghuà jì together set the model for the shūhuà cóngshū genre. The Yàolù was compiled in the Dàzhōng 大中 era (847–860); Zhāng’s own preface gives no date, but the inclusion of texts down to Yuánhé and the post-An-Lushan generational distance suggest 847 as a reasonable lower bound. The single most important fact about the work is its preservative function: most of the Liùcháo and early Táng theoretical literature on calligraphy — including all of Yú Jiānwú KR3h0002, all of Zhāng Huáiguàn, and the entire Shùshū fù of Dòu Jì KR3h0007 — would have been lost without it. Where Zhāng has not seen an original (e.g. Wáng Yīn 王愔’s Wénzì zhì), he reproduces only the mùlù. His own editorial interventions are extremely light; occasional interlinear glosses (e.g. on Lǐ Sìzhēn) are conjectured by the Sìkù editors to be his own.
Translations and research
- Acker, William Reynolds Beal. Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1954–74. (Translates substantial portions of the Fǎshū yàolù parallels and the Lìdài mínghuà jì.)
- Ledderose, Lothar. Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
- McNair, Amy. The Upright Brush: Yan Zhenqing’s Calligraphy and Song Literati Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998.
- Fang Aiyong 方愛龍 (collator). Fǎshū yàolù jiào jiān 法書要錄校箋. Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe, 2013 (modern critical edition).
- Zhōngguó shūhuà quánshū 中國書畫全書. Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe, 1992–98, vol. 1 (collated transcription).
Other points of interest
The Fǎshū yàolù is the single most-cited Táng calligraphic source in later anthologies; its model of preserving complete texts in compendium form was directly imitated by Zhū Cúnlǐ’s KR3h0044 Shānhú mùnán and by the Yuán Shūshǐ huìyào of Táo Zōngyí KR3h0043.