Zhàoshì Tiěwǎng shānhú 趙氏鐵網珊瑚
Mr. Zhào’s Iron-Net Coral (a compilation of inscriptions and colophons on famous calligraphies and paintings) attributed to 朱存理 (Zhū Cúnlǐ) in the old recension; actually compiled by 趙琦美 (Zhào Qímǐ, 1563–1624, 明, biān 編)
About the work
A 16-juàn compilation of inscriptions and colophons on famous calligraphies and paintings, divided into Shūpǐn (calligraphy, 10 juàn) and Huàpǐn (painting, 6 juàn). The work is traditionally attributed to Zhū Cúnlǐ but, as the Sìkù editors carefully demonstrate, was in fact compiled by Zhào Qímǐ of Chángshú late in the Wànlì era. Zhào’s own Wànlì-era colophon, preserved at the end of the book, makes the compositional history explicit: he obtained a manuscript of Shūpǐn and Huàpǐn each in four juàn from the Qín Sìlín 秦四麟 family; later he obtained from Jiāo Hóng 焦竑 a copy in more juàn; he collated the two and enlarged to Shūpǐn 10 juàn and Huàpǐn 6 juàn. He further added authentic pieces he had personally seen. The work’s value is the very large body of colophons it preserves on identifiable calligraphic and pictorial pieces of the high Míng and earlier periods.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Zhàoshì tiěwǎng shānhú in sixteen juàn; the old text titles it “composed by Zhū Cúnlǐ of the Míng.” At the end is a Wànlì-era colophon by Zhào Qímǐ of Chángshú: “I originally obtained from the Qín Sìlín family Shūpǐn and Huàpǐn in four juàn each; later from Jiāo Hóng I obtained a more abundant copy. Comparing the two, I have expanded to Shūpǐn ten juàn and Huàpǐn six juàn. The order and sequence are my arrangement. I have also appended authentic pieces I have personally seen. The Qín original had no compiler’s name; there were colophon-notes for the author but they were lost — not Zhū Cúnlǐ in any case.” On this evidence the book is what Qímǐ compiled from an anonymous-author’s incomplete draft. Since the draft is not from one hand, and Qímǐ further added supplements, the attribution to Zhū Cúnlǐ is in error. In Yōngzhèng wùshēn (1728) Nián Xīyáo 年希堯 cut this book; his colophon notes a separate 14-juàn version transmitted as Cúnlǐ’s original — not seen at this time. Furthermore the genuine Shānhú mùnán of Zhū Cúnlǐ KR3h0044 in four juàn records famous pieces each followed by his own colophons — entirely different in form from this book, so this is not from Cúnlǐ’s hand all the more clear. Yet the book’s colophons on calligraphies and paintings are usefully discriminating, and modern connoisseurs cite them often. Since the book is usable, no need to fix it to any one author. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), tenth month.
Abstract
The Zhàoshì tiěwǎng shānhú is one of the principal late-Míng compilations of inscription-and-colophon material on calligraphies and paintings. The text’s attribution problem is a model case in late-Míng / early-Qīng connoisseurship: a body of material from an anonymous Wú-school manuscript was, through the work of Zhào Qímǐ of Chángshú c. 1600–1620, expanded into a 16-juàn reference and entered transmission under Zhū Cúnlǐ’s name. The Sìkù editors decisively reattribute the book to Zhào; the Yōngzhèng-era printing by Nián Xīyáo (1728) preserved the false attribution for a further century. The work’s substantive value — its colophon-records on identifiable SòngYuánMíng pieces — is not affected by the attribution problem.
Translations and research
- Clunas, Craig. Elegant Debts: The Social Art of Wen Zhengming, 1470–1559. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2004.
- No standalone Western-language monographic treatment. Cited as a reference in much of the modern Sòng-Yuán-Míng painting literature.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ detailed unwinding of the attribution — from the Qín Sìlín anonymous draft, through Jiāo Hóng’s expanded copy, to Zhào Qímǐ’s collation and substantial supplementation — is a model demonstration of late-Míng compilation reconstruction.