Huìshì wēiyán 繪事微言
Subtle Words on the Affair of Painting by 唐志契 (Táng Zhìqì, b. 1579, fl. Wànlì–Chóngzhēn, 明, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Táng Zhìqì’s two-juàn compendium on the painting of landscape — Jiāng Shàoshū’s Wúshēng shīshǐ says of it that it “considerably attains the principles of the Liùfǎ.” The book gathers famous discussions of painting from Xiè Hè KR3h0001 down to Lǐ Rìhuá 李日華 of the Míng, pruning what is unnecessary and selecting what is essential. Some of the pieces Táng includes are pseudepigrapha: he takes Liáng Yuándì’s Sōngshí gé as authentic, the so-called Wáng Wéi Shānshuǐ lùn as Jīng Hào’s, the Línquán gāozhì KR3h0018 as Guō Xī’s own (rather than as compiled by Guō Sī). The Sìkù editors note these errors. Táng’s own discursive sections, however, often hit the substantive — “the foundation of painting is qìyùn; the priority is reading books” — a position the Sìkù editors call “a verifiable judgement.” The Kāngxī Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ draws extensively on Táng.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Huìshì wēiyán in two juàn, by Táng Zhìqì of the Míng. Zhìqì, zì Fūwǔ 敷五, Jiāngdū 江都 zhūshēng; with his brother Zhìyǐn 志尹 both able painters, Zhìqì especially celebrated for landscape. This compilation is his huàpǔ. Jiāng Shàoshū regards it as having “considerably attained the principles of the Liùfǎ.” He records discussions of famous painters from NánQí Xiè Hè onward to Míng Lǐ Rìhuá, removing the redundant and selecting the essential. Transmission errors not corrected: he takes Liáng Yuándì’s Huà sōngshí gé as authentic — it is in fact a forgery; the Wáng Wéi Shānshuǐ lùn found in the Wáng Huàyuàn he takes as Hónggǔzǐ Jīng Hào’s, and mis-titles it Huà shānshuǐ fù; the Línquán gāozhì KR3h0018 was originally Guō Sī’s compilation of his father Guō Xī’s traces, but here he takes the book as Xī’s own. Artisans like to attach themselves to the ancients to give their teaching authority — geomancers always cite Guō Pú, occult writers Liú Jī — propagating errors. As long as what is said is sound, no need to investigate further. As to his own discussions, mostly they hit the substantive — for example, “the foundation of painting is qìyùn; the priority is reading books” — a verifiable judgement. Taste his diction and one knows him no common artisan. So the imperially-commissioned Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ KR3h0061 draws Zhìqì’s positions extensively. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 42 (1777), fifth month.
Abstract
Táng Zhìqì 唐志契 (zì Fūwǔ 敷五, of Jiāngdū 江都 = Yángzhōu, b. 1579) was a late-Míng zhūshēng (low-degree holder) and landscape painter active in the Wànlì to Chóngzhēn decades. The Huìshì wēiyán is the principal late-Míng systematic landscape-painting compendium and was extensively drawn upon by the Kāngxī KR3h0061 Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ. Táng’s doctrinal positions — qìyùn as the foundation, dúshū (reading) as the priority — align him with the Dǒng Qíchāng literati school against the Zhè-school professional painters. The Sìkù editors’ careful identification of three pseudepigraphic ancillaries that Táng accepted (Liáng Yuándì Sōngshí gé; “Wáng Wéi” Shānshuǐ lùn; Línquán gāozhì as direct Guō Xī work) is a model of late-Qīng textual criticism.
Translations and research
- Cahill, James. The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982 (late-Míng context).
- Cahill, James. The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570–1644. New York: Weatherhill, 1982.
- Bush, Susan. The Chinese Literati on Painting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
- No standalone Western-language monographic study.