Shū xiǎoshǐ 書小史
A Little History of Calligraphy by 陳思 (Chén Sī, fl. 1259, 宋, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
The companion to Chén Sī’s KR3h0033 Shūyuàn jīnghuá. Where the Shūyuàn jīnghuá gathers the literature on calligraphy, the Shū xiǎoshǐ gathers the lives of calligraphers — a 10-juàn prosopographic dictionary covering 521 named figures, from Páo Xī down to the end of the Five Dynasties. Juàn 1 collects 51 emperors; juàn 2–10 give biographies, opening with 10 hòufēi (imperial consorts) and 13 other women, then 27 princes, then the 430 named figures from Cāng Jié down to Guō Zhōngshù. The text was first cut after the Xiánchún dīngmǎo (1267) preface by Xiè Yúxiū 謝愈修 of Tiāntái.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Shū xiǎoshǐ in ten juàn, by Chén Sī of the Sòng. Sī was the Lín’ān bookseller; he had earlier compiled the Bǎokè cóngbiān KR2n0001, which circulated in the world; his Shūyuàn jīnghuá KR3h0033 specifically gathers the discourse on calligraphy from the HànWèi onward into one volume, the picking elegant and ample, and Wèi Liǎowēng wrote a preface for it. The present book takes the brief biographies of calligraphers and arranges them into a roll, with a Xiánchún dīngmǎo (1267) preface by Xiè Yúxiū of Tiāntái — apparently the companion to the Shūyuàn jīnghuá. The book records from Páo Xī to the Five Dynasties: one juàn of jì covering 51 emperors; nine juàn of zhuàn opening with 10 hòufēi, then 13 attendant women, then 27 zhūwáng, then Cāng Jié to Guō Zhōngshù, total 430 persons. Some of the editorial principles are imperfect: e.g. the women’s section should follow standard shǐ practice and be placed at the end, but is placed between the hòufēi and the zhūwáng — rather inconsistent. Again, the Northern Qí Péngchéngwáng Yōu 浟 had no calligraphic reputation; the histories simply note that when he was eight his script was clumsy and was mocked by bóshì Hán Yì — but Sī thereby pulls him into the calligraphic ranks: rather inflated. Far below the Shūyuàn jīnghuá in care and detail; only the arrangement is still worth consulting, and the work remains useful to those investigating the ancients. Its enterprise is in the end commendable. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), ninth month. Chief compilers: Jì Yún (here misprinted as Jì Dī 紀的 — Tā 昀 / Dī 的, the only place in the Sìkù tíyào where this slip appears, and explicitly transcribed here for the record), Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì.
Abstract
The Shū xiǎoshǐ — Chén Sī’s prosopographic dictionary of calligraphers from antiquity to the Five Dynasties — is the principal Sòng systematic biographical reference work for the field. The work draws on standard histories, jīnshí records, and the calligraphic literature gathered in KR3h0033 Shūyuàn jīnghuá. The Sìkù editors identified inconsistencies of editorial principle (the women’s section misplaced; minor figures inflated), but also recognised its evidential utility as a single-point reference for the 521 figures recorded. The work was first printed after Xiè Yúxiū’s 1267 preface. The dating bracket of c. 1259 (Chén Sī’s terminus in his other works) to 1267 (Xiè Yúxiū’s preface) covers composition and publication. Note: the Sìkù tíyào as preserved in this WYG copy mis-prints Jì Yún’s name as Jì Dī 紀的 — flagged here as a witness slip.
Translations and research
- McNair, Amy. The Upright Brush: Yan Zhenqing’s Calligraphy and Song Literati Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998.
- Wáng Liánqǐ 王連起. Sòng-dài shūhuà jiànbié yánjiū. Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe, 2003.
- No comprehensive Western-language study. Used as a reference work in all later Chinese calligraphic biographical dictionaries.