Mìdiàn zhūlín 祕殿珠林
A Forest of Pearls in the Secret Palace by 張照 (Zhāng Zhào, 1691–1745, 清, fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰) and 梁詩正 (Liáng Shīzhèng, 1697–1763, 清, fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰)
About the work
The imperial catalog of Buddhist and Daoist religious calligraphy and painting in the Qīng court collection, in 24 juàn, compiled under Qiánlóng 8–9 (1743–1744) per the shàngyù 上諭 of Qiánlóng 8 / 12 / 16 (early 1744). Compilation was ordered by the Qiánlóng emperor in parallel with — but as a separately-bound companion to — the secular KR3h0063 Shíqú bǎojí 石渠寶笈. The Mìdiàn zhūlín registers 1,235 Buddhist and Daoist pieces from the imperial collection: sūtras in calligraphic copies, devotional paintings, ritual portraits, and ancient stone-inscription and embroidered/woven pieces, organised by religious tradition (Buddhist first, then Daoist) and by genre within each tradition. Compilation was led by Zhāng Zhào 張照 (1691–1745), Liáng Shīzhèng 梁詩正 (1697–1763), Lì Zōngwàn 勵宗萬 and Zhāng Ruòǎi 張若靄, with the Tibetan lama Chángjiā Hútùkètú 章嘉胡土克圖 (Lcang-skya Khutukhtu) serving as authority on Tibetan-script texts. The fánlì 凡例 documents the editorial protocols in detail: pieces are graded into shàngděng 上等 (top — confirmed-genuine, excellent brushwork; full transcription of paper-and-silk dimensions, all colophons and seal-impressions) and cìděng 次等 (next — confirmed-genuine but lesser quality, or excellent but with genuineness uncertain; only the signature and colophon-author names transcribed). The compilation follows the Xiàng Yuánbiàn 項元汴 Tiānlài gé model of using the Thousand-Character-Classic characters in sequence as collection-number marks. The catalog’s geographical organisation tracks where in the palace each item was stored: the four-emperor chénhàn 宸翰 (imperial-hand pieces) in the Cínínggōng 慈寧宮, Buddhist printed canon at the Wànshàndiàn 萬善殿, Daoist canon at the Qīnāndiàn 欽安殿 / Tiānqióngdiàn 天穹殿 / Dàgāodiàn 大高殿, and Tibetan-script (Sanskrit-rendering, Xīfàn zì) canon at the Cínínggōng zhōngzhèngdiàn 慈寧宮中正殿. Later supplements (the Mìdiàn zhūlín xùbiān 續編 of Jiāqìng 1791 and the sānbiān 三編 of Jiāqìng 21, 1816) extend the catalog into the late Qiánlóng and Jiāqìng holdings.
Tiyao
No tiyao block in source — the WYG _000 file contains only the header. The shàngyù of Qiánlóng 8 / 12 / 16 (entered as juàn 1) serves as the work’s authorising preface: “Our state has enjoyed a century of peace; the categorising of goods is rich. But the lineage-teaching of successive courts has never made precious-curio collecting its priority. Sometimes at leisure I have given affection to ink-brush, taking the ancients as my companions. The silk-and-paper holdings of the Nèifǔ run into the thousands and tens of thousands; among them, holdings of the Buddhist and Daoist traditions — central and western — make up a bǎojí zhūhán (jewel-baskets and pearl-cases) of 1,235 zhǒng of pieces left behind by famous monks, great masters and Daoist immortals. The hand-traces of Shìzǔ Zhānghuángdì, Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì and Shìzōng Xiànhuángdì — these too survive in many copies, and ought to be respectfully and carefully wrapped and shown to the descendants. I command Zhāng Zhào, Liáng Shīzhèng, Lì Zōngwàn and Zhāng Ruòǎi to compile and edit, with Chángjiā Hútùkètú of the central plains to verify the western tradition of palm-leaf sūtras: which to store at the Qiánqīnggōng and which at the Wànshàndiàn and Dàgāodiàn and elsewhere — distinguish their stations so the categories do not steal upon each other. Follow the model of the KR3h0061 Shūhuà pǔ and compile a book that will let later generations find what is where. If new pieces enter the inner archive thereafter, they will be entered by number into the continuation — a worthy enterprise of peace. Respectfully presented.”
Abstract
The Mìdiàn zhūlín is the imperially-commissioned catalog of Buddhist and Daoist calligraphy and painting in the Qīng inner-palace collection at the start of the Qiánlóng reign. Together with its companion volume KR3h0063 Shíqú bǎojí — the catalog of secular calligraphy and painting — it is the principal documentation of the Qīng imperial collection. The Mìdiàn zhūlín records pieces by Buddhist and Daoist monks and lay patrons, devotional images, sūtra copies in famous hands, and especially the chénhàn (imperial-hand) corpus of the Shùnzhì, Kāngxī, Yōngzhèng and Qiánlóng emperors in religious mode. Its survey of palace storage locations is a unique source for the architectural-cum-curatorial geography of the Zǐjìnchéng in the mid-eighteenth century. The compilation of 1,235 items in a single 24-juàn catalog was an extraordinary administrative achievement, completed in 17 months (Qiánlóng 8/12 to Qiánlóng 9/5, 1744). The work has subsequently been supplemented by a xùbiān (Jiāqìng 1791) and a sānbiān (Jiāqìng 1816), creating a 19th-century three-volume comprehensive imperial catalog of Buddhist and Daoist art.
Translations and research
- Hearn, Maxwell K. How to Read Chinese Paintings. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008.
- Stuart, Jan, and Evelyn S. Rawski. Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 2001.
- Wáng Yàotíng 王耀庭 (ed.). Mìdiàn zhūlín, Shíqú bǎojí xù-biān, sān-biān suǒyǐn 秘殿珠林石渠寶笈續編三編索引. Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1989.
- Liú Jīnkù 劉金庫. “Cóng Mìdiàn zhūlín, Shíqú bǎo-jí tán Qīng nèi-fǔ shūhuà shōucáng” 從《秘殿珠林》《石渠寶笈》談清內府書畫收藏. Gùgōng wénwù yuèkān 故宮文物月刊 (various issues).
Other points of interest
The companion volume KR3h0063 Shíqú bǎojí covers secular calligraphy and painting in the imperial collection; the two together constitute the Qiánlóng imperial inventory of the inner-palace’s calligraphy and painting holdings, the most comprehensive catalog of any Chinese imperial collection. The use of the Thousand-Character-Classic characters as collection-numbers — borrowed from Xiàng Yuánbiàn’s late-Míng Tiānlài gé — became standard in Qīng imperial inventory practice. Note on attribution: the catalog meta splits the second compiler’s name as 詩正 with the surname 梁 mis-tagged as “dynasty”; the body of the shàngyù gives him as Liáng Shīzhèng 梁詩正 (1697–1763), the same compiler who appears correctly in KR3h0063 Shíqú bǎojí.