Guǎngchuān shūbá 廣川書跋
Colophons on Calligraphies by [Dǒng Yōu of] Guǎngchuān by 董逌 (Dǒng Yōu, fl. 1127, 宋, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A ten-juàn collection of Dǒng Yōu’s antiquarian colophons on ancient bronze inscriptions and on calligraphic stelae and model-rubbings from the Hàn through the Five Dynasties and into the early Sòng. The book proceeds chronologically: juàn 1–2 on bronze inscriptions (kuǎnshí) from the legendary Yúshùn 虞舜 to the Shíxǔ and Shígǔ wén (this juàn contains a major essay assigning the Shígǔ to King Chéng of Zhōu); juàn 3 on Hàn stelae; juàn 4–9 on WèiJìn through Táng stelae, organised by reign-period (Jiànchū, Wǔdé, Zhēnguān, Xiántōng, Yuánhé, Chánɡqìnɡ, Chángqìng); juàn 10 on Five-Dynasties and Sòng pieces. Together with his KR3h0029 Guǎngchuān huàbá, this work pioneered the literary form of the connoisseurial epigraphic colophon-collection in Chinese.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Guǎngchuān shūbá in ten juàn, by Dǒng Yōu of the Sòng. Yōu, zì Yànyuǎn 彥遠, a man of Dōngpíng 東平; titled “Guǎngchuān” 廣川 after his clan-seat. During Zhènghé he held the office of Huīyóugé dàizhì. Wáng Mínɡqīng’s Yùzhào xīnzhì records that “Sīyè Dǒng Yōu was present” at the Sòng Qíyú prison testimony — so at the very end of Jìngkāng he was still in office as Sīyè. Dīng Tèqǐ’s Gūchén qìxuè lù records his receipt of the Zhāng Bāngchāng pseudo-imperial commission to console the Tàixué students — the man is not to be praised. Yet in calligraphic and pictorial connoisseurship he is still admired to this day. The book is colophon-essays on ancient bronze inscriptions and on HànTáng stelae and fǎtiè, with some Sòng pieces appended at the end. His verdicts and evidential reasoning are uniformly meticulous. On the basis of the Zuǒzhuàn’s “Chéngwáng held a hunt at Qíyáng,” he assigns the Shígǔ wén to King Chéng of Zhōu — perhaps not certain, but well argued. He recognises that the Sūn Shūáo stele is unreliable, yet credits the Ténggōng shíguǒ míng on the strength of the Bówù zhì and the Xījīng záji — inconsistent. He takes “jì” as the kingdom that lifted ramie, not realising it was a qīng and not a hóu state; he takes the Wōzhōng liè yuǎnxiù line as Xiè Língyùn, not realising it is Xiè Tiào. There are several such slips. They do not impair his connoisseurial discernment. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 42 (1777), ninth month. Chief compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì.
Abstract
Dǒng Yōu (zì Yànyuǎn 彥遠, of Dōngpíng 東平; titled “Guǎngchuān” after his clan-seat) flourished c. 1115–1127, holding office in Huīzōng’s reign as Huīyóugé dàizhì and as Sīyè of the Imperial Academy. He is a problematic figure historically: Dīng Tèqǐ’s Gūchén qìxuè lù records his collaboration with the Jīn puppet emperor Zhāng Bāngchāng 張邦昌 in the catastrophe of 1126–27, and the Sìkù editors duly note that “the man is not to be praised.” His scholarly work in painting and calligraphy is, however, the foundation document of Chinese epigraphic colophon-criticism, alongside Huáng Bósī 黃伯思 (the parallel figure named in the tíyào). The Guǎngchuān shūbá moves the jīnshí xué of Ōuyáng Xiū and Zhào Míngchéng forward into systematic connoisseurial appraisal, and was the model for all later antiquarian colophon-collections from Sòng Yuán right through to the Qīng Xīqīng gǔjiàn KR3h0089. Several of its individual essays — the Shígǔ wén attribution to King Chéng, the discriminations among Hàn stelae, the Yán Zhēnqīng dating-corrections — became the standard later references in Chinese epigraphy.
Translations and research
- Hsu, Eileen Hsiang-ling. Dong Yōu and the Critical Tradition of Northern Song Calligraphy. PhD diss., Princeton, 1996.
- McNair, Amy. The Upright Brush: Yan Zhenqing’s Calligraphy and Song Literati Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998 (Dǒng on Yán).
- No comprehensive monographic translation in any Western language. Treated in the standard Zhōngguó shūhuà quánshū collated edition, vol. 1.
- Wáng Liánqǐ 王連起. Sòng-dài shūhuà jiànbié yánjiū. Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe, 2003 (uses Dǒng extensively).
Other points of interest
The Guǎngchuān shūbá and the KR3h0029 Guǎngchuān huàbá together pioneered the form of the connoisseur’s colophon collection in Chinese, distinct from the cataloguer’s list and from the calligraphic compendium — a form that would dominate the YuánMíngQīng connoisseurship literature.