Yùdìng Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ 御定佩文齋書畫譜
Imperially-Authorised Pèi-wén Studio Treatise on Calligraphy and Painting by 孫岳頒 (Sūn Yuèbān, 1639–1708, 清, fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰)
About the work
The greatest single Chinese encyclopaedic compilation on calligraphy and painting, in 100 juàn, completed under the Kāngxī 康熙 emperor and presented in Kāngxī 47 (1708). Pèiwén zhāi 佩文齋 was Kāngxī’s personal studio name (the name was also used for the great Kāngxī rhyme-dictionary Pèiwén yùnfǔ 佩文韻府). The work was edited under imperial command by Sūn Yuèbān 孫岳頒 (1639–1708) with a team of court compilers. The structural plan: 10 juàn on the theory of calligraphy (lùnshū 論書), 8 juàn on the theory of painting (lùnhuà 論畫); 2 juàn of calligraphies by past emperors and 1 of paintings by past emperors; 23 juàn of biographies of calligraphers and 14 juàn of biographies of painters; 6 juàn of anonymous calligraphy and 2 juàn of anonymous painting; 1 juàn of imperial colophons on calligraphy and painting, 1 of past-emperor colophons on calligraphy and 1 on painting; 11 juàn of past-master colophons on calligraphy and 7 on painting; 2 juàn of textual collation on calligraphy and 1 on painting; and 10 juàn on connoisseurial collecting traditions. The compilation draws on 1,844 distinct sources (the list opens with the Zhōuyì and runs through the standard histories and dynastic-history annotations to specialist shūhuà literature), each citation tagged at the foot of the entry to its source — the principle is the same as that of Lǚ Zǔqiān’s 呂祖謙 Jiāshú dúshī jì 家塾讀詩記.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Yùdìng Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ in one hundred juàn, of Kāngxī 47 (1708) under the imperially-authorised hand of the Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì 聖祖仁皇帝 (i.e. Kāngxī). Calligraphy and painting both arose in highest antiquity, but there are no extant treatises distinguishing skilled from unskilled execution; the distinguishing of skill from lack of skill begins from the Eastern Hàn. Initially only brushwork-method was discussed; after that came named-and-graded artists, then collection records, then colophons on ancient pieces, then evidential authentication. These books variously transmit or fail to transmit; the practice of combining several discussions into a single compilation begins from Zhāng Yànyuǎn’s Fǎshū yàolù and Lìdài mínghuà jì. After the Táng, successive compilations followed in waves; recording grew daily; but on the whole each only had its own range of observation, none capable of fully covering. The Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì, having long ruled and reached the matured grace of the Huàchéng, gave his attention to brush and ink — his imperial-composed colophons on calligraphy and painting are radiant, and an album of Kuízǎo impressions illuminates the imperial archive. He commanded the editing of the inner-palace materials into this compilation. Personally giving each placement his judgment, he set this work down: ten juàn on the theory of calligraphy, eight on the theory of painting; two on past-emperor calligraphy and one on past-emperor painting; twenty-three juàn on calligraphers’ lives and fourteen on painters’ lives; six juàn of anonymous calligraphy and two of anonymous painting; one juàn of imperial colophons on calligraphy and painting, one of past-emperor calligraphy colophons and one of painting colophons; eleven juàn of past-master calligraphy colophons and seven of painting colophons; two juàn of calligraphy biànzhèng and one of painting biànzhèng; ten juàn on past collecting traditions. The arranged categories and listed headings provide testimony and consideration of language; the cited books total 1,844 zhǒng; each item has its source noted in the under-cell, using the precedent of Zhāng Míngfèng’s Guìgù Guìshèng and Dǒng Sīzhāng’s Wúxìng bèizhì — so that every word and every phrase has its source; and there is no repetition between earlier and later entries, no contradictions — also like Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Jiāshú dúshī jì, where many readings are combined and each is name-attributed but the redaction is unified as if by one hand. Not only does it trace the source and follow the channel, exhausting the subtleties of the art-craft — its citation is detailed and its principle precise; it is provisioning for evidential research and a touchstone for further composition. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 41 (1776), tenth month.
Abstract
The Yùdìng Pèiwénzhāi shūhuà pǔ is the principal single reference work on Chinese calligraphy and painting up to the late Kāngxī. It was edited under court commission by Sūn Yuèbān 孫岳頒 (zì Yúntāo 雲韜, hào Shùgōng 樹峰; 1639–1708) of Wújiāng 吳江, a Kāngxī 12 (1673) jìnshì, finally Vice-Minister of Rites, and a major calligrapher in his own right. Imperially supervised compilations on calligraphy and painting begin with Zhāng Yànyuǎn’s Fǎshū yàolù and Lìdài mínghuà jì in the Táng and continue through the Xuānhé paintings catalogue KR3h0017 and Xuānhé shūpǔ KR3h0014 of the Northern Sòng; but no comparable single compilation existed for the Yuán, Míng or Qīng before this one. The use of citation-tagging at each entry’s foot is a major kǎozhèng methodological achievement and makes the work usable as a reference index even after later painting compendia have superseded it. Kāngxī presented the work in 1708; it was reprinted in the Sìkù quánshū a generation later.
Translations and research
- Goepper, Roger. Shu-p’u: Der Traktat zur Schriftkunst des Sun Kuo-t’ing. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974. [Cites this as the principal source for the textual tradition.]
- Ledderose, Lothar. Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
- Egan, Ronald. The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006.
- Yú Jiànhuá 俞劍華 (ed.). Zhōngguó gǔdài huàlùn lèibiān 中國古代畫論類編. Beijing: Rénmín měishù chūbǎnshè, 1957.
Other points of interest
The 1,844 separate sources cited make this the densest single source-base for any premodern Chinese art-historical compilation; the explicit per-entry citation makes the Pèiwén a usable lookup of the standard pre-Qīng calligraphy and painting literature in itself.