Shūlù 書錄
A Record of Calligraphers by 董更 (Dǒng Gēng, zì Liángshǐ 良史, hào Xiánzhōng lǎosǒu 閒中老叟, fl. 1242–1265, 宋, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A three-juàn Southern Sòng prosopographic survey of Sòng calligraphers, with a wàipiān appended at the end. Juàn 1 (the “upper”) covers the imperial calligraphers from Tàizǔ to Gāozōng; juàn 2 (the “middle”) lists 110 Northern Sòng calligraphers; juàn 3 (the “lower”) lists 45 Southern Sòng calligraphers. Each entry follows the convention of writing down whatever evaluation was available — Dǒng explicitly disclaims rank-ordering. The wàipiān appends six women calligraphers, following the Huáyáng guózhì precedent of recording any qióngrú pínnǚ (poor scholar or impoverished woman) whose deeds merit recording. The book is dated by the tíyào’s notice: completed in Chúnyòu rényín (1242); destroyed by fire in Jǐngdìng 1 (1260, gēngshēn); reconstituted from a Cáo-family copy in Xiánchún 1 (1265, yǐchǒu).
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Shūlù in three juàn, by Dǒng Gēng of the Sòng. Gēng, zì Liángshǐ; his clan-seat is not clear; he calls himself Xiánzhōng lǎosǒu (Old Man from the Idle Middle) — apparently never had a metropolitan-degree career. The book records the calligraphers of the Sòng dynasty by surname, divided into upper, middle and lower piān. Upper records from Tàizǔ to Gāozōng; middle records 110 Northern Sòng calligraphers; lower records 45 Southern Sòng calligraphers. Wherever he saw a record he copied it onto the volume, so the sequence does not follow rank. Wherever previous books had a critical evaluation of calligraphy, he gathered it. After each entry he adds an wàipiān at the end. The six women recorded apparently follow the example of the Huáyáng guózhì, which records any poor scholar or destitute woman whose deeds may be told. The matter recorded is not comprehensive, but the citations are canonical, the evidence careful, and the form genuinely shapely — not to be put alongside the indiscriminate compilers. The book was completed in Lǐzōng’s Chúnyòu rényín (1242); destroyed by fire in Jǐngdìng 1 (1260, gēngshēn); in Dùzōng’s Xiánchún 1 (yǐchǒu, 1265) he obtained the old copy from the Cáo family and recompiled this book. The text appended a line at the end “Zhìzhèng dīngwèi (1367) third month transcribed and edited…” — the Yuán Huátíng Sūn-family hand-copy preservation. Subsequent transcriptions accumulated errors; the self-preface is also damaged and unreadable. Comparison of all extant editions yields no useful correction; we have therefore retained it as is. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), ninth month.
Abstract
Dǒng Gēng’s Shūlù is a rare survival: a Southern Sòng-era prosopographic survey of Sòng-dynasty calligraphers compiled by a non-degree-holder (xiánzhōng lǎosǒu). The work’s coverage — 110 Northern Sòng calligraphers, 45 Southern Sòng — is the principal Sòng-internal accounting of the Sòng calligraphic establishment. The book’s history of fire-destruction and reconstitution from a Cáo-family copy (1260 fire, 1265 recompilation) is preserved through the Sìkù tíyào; the Zhìzhèng 1367 colophon at the end of the manuscript records its survival into the Yuán through the Sūn 孫 family of Huátíng 華亭. Dǒng’s choice to record six women calligraphers on the explicit Huáyáng guózhì precedent makes the book one of the few medieval Chinese calligraphic prosopographies that systematically includes women.
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 standalone monographic study. Lightly used in modern Sòng calligraphic prosopographies.