Xù shūpǔ 續書譜
A Continuation of the Treatise on Calligraphy by 姜夔 (Jiāng Kuí, c. 1155 – c. 1221, 宋, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Jiāng Kuí’s one-juàn set of essays on calligraphic doctrine, conceived as a continuation of Sūn Guòtíng’s KR3h0005 Shūpǔ. The work is presented in twenty topical sections: (1) Zǒnglùn 總論 general; (2) Zhēnshū 真書 regular; (3) Yòngbǐ 用筆 brush-use; (4) Cǎoshū 草書 cursive; (5) Yòngbǐ 用筆 brush-use (again); (6) Yòngmò 用墨 ink-use; (7) Xíngshū 行書 running; (8) Línmó 臨摹 copying; (9) Shūdān 書丹 inscription on stone; (10) Qíngxìng 情性 character-and-feeling; (11) Xuèmài 血脈 blood-and-vein; (12) Zàorùn 燥潤 dry-and-moist; (13) Jìnɡ-mèi 勁媚 strong-and-graceful; (14) Fāngyuán 方圓 square-and-round; (15) Xiàngbèi 向背 facing-and-turning; (16) Wèizhì 位置 placement; (17) Shūmì 疏密 sparse-and-dense; (18) Fēngshén 風神 spirit; (19) Chísù 遲速 slow-and-quick; (20) Bǐfēng 筆鋒 brush-tip. The preface is by Xiè Cǎibó 謝采伯 dated Jiādìng 1 (1208), which records that Xiè had only just understood Jiāng’s ability as a calligrapher and arranged for the engraving. The work is the foundational document of Southern Sòng calligraphic theory.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Xù shūpǔ in one juàn, by Jiāng Kuí of the Sòng. Kuí has Jiàng tiè píng, already recorded. This compilation is his discourse on calligraphy. Its title “Xù shūpǔ” — because the Táng Sūn Guòtíng had earlier produced a Shūpǔ. There is a Jiādìng wùchén (1208) preface by Xiè Cǎibó of Tiāntái which records: “I had a slight acquaintance with Kuí through a friend, without knowing he could write. Recently I have seen a few sheets of his hand: the brush is vigorous and powerful, the waves and ripples are aged-and-mature. Then I also obtained his Xù shūpǔ in one juàn — its discourse is penetrating, three readings draw three sighs. I therefore arranged the engraving.” So this book was written by Kuí, and Cǎibó was the first to publish it. This text is from Wángshì Shūyuàn bǔyì. In twenty sections [as listed]. The Zàorùn and Jìnɡ-mèi sections both have entry-title-only with no body; the Zàorùn is annotated “see Yòngbǐ,” and the Jìnɡ-mèi “see Qíngxìng”; but the discussion of zàorùn is in fact in the Yòngmò section — we suspect a corruption. Further, the Zhēnshū and Cǎoshū sections are each followed by a Yòngbǐ section; but the Yòngbǐ after Cǎoshū is in fact the Bāfǎ (Eight Methods of yǒng 永) and not a discussion of cursive — we suspect an error here also. Carefully comparing with the Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ, juàn 7 of which fully includes this work — the order through Línmó (the first eight) is the same; from Línmó on it then goes (9) Fāngyuán, (10) Xiàngbèi, (11) Wèizhì, (12) Shūmì, (13) Fēngshén, (14) Chísù, (15) Bǐshì, (16) Qíngxìng, (17) Xuèmài, (18) Shūdān. There are small differences in front-and-back; Zàorùn and Jìnɡ-mèi are entirely absent — so the source-text differs slightly, but the prose has been neither added to nor subtracted. The Shūshǐ huìyào says: “Zhào Bìzé 趙必睪, zì Bówěi 伯暐, of the imperial clan, Zòuyuàn zhōngchéng, good at lì and kǎi, composed Xù shūpǔ biànwàng in correction of Jiāng Kuí’s errors.” Bìzé’s book is now lost; we do not know what corrections he made. But Kuí’s pǔ has from the beginning been respected by the calligraphic community; Bìzé alone held a contrary view — perhaps wrong. Probably for that reason Bìzé’s book was discarded and not transmitted. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), tenth month. Chief compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì.
Abstract
Jiāng Kuí 姜夔 (zì Yáozhāng 堯章, hào Báishí dàorén 白石道人, c. 1155 – c. 1221), the leading Southern Sòng cí poet and musical theorist, is also one of the most important Southern Sòng theorists of calligraphy. The Xù shūpǔ belongs to his final decade and was first cut by Xiè Cǎibó in Jiādìng 1 (1208). The work is consciously framed as a successor to Sūn Guòtíng’s KR3h0005 Shūpǔ: while Sūn organised by genre (zhēncǎoxínglì), Jiāng organises by aesthetic category (qíngxìng, xuèmài, fēngshén, fāngyuán, xiàngbèi) — the analytical apparatus is post-Sòng, drawing on Northern Sòng connoisseurship (Mǐ Fú KR3h0024) and on the literati discussion of yìqù. The Xù shūpǔ is therefore the major bridge text between Northern Sòng connoisseurship and YuánMíng systematic calligraphic doctrine. Two sections (Zàorùn, Jìnɡ-mèi) lack body-text in the WYG transmission, and the section order has migrated — see the Sìkù tíyào for the disentanglement. The work survives also in the Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ of Kāngxī, which preserves a slightly different recension.
Translations and research
- Lin, Yutang. The Importance of Living. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937, ch. 14 (extracts).
- Yu, Pauline. The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987 (background).
- Yú Jiànhuá 俞劍華, Zhōngguó gǔdài shū-lùn lèibiān. Beijing: Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 1957 (collated text).
- Lin, Shuen-fu. The Transformation of the Chinese Lyrical Tradition: Chiang K’uei and Southern Sung Tz’u Poetry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978 (literary background).
- McNair, Amy. The Upright Brush: Yan Zhenqing’s Calligraphy and Song Literati Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998.
Other points of interest
Jiāng’s organisation of calligraphic doctrine by aesthetic category rather than by script-type became the model for all subsequent Chinese calligraphic theory — the categories of xuèmài (blood-and-vein) and fēngshén (spirit) are direct ancestors of the MíngQīng critical vocabulary.