Gēngzǐ xiāoxià jì 庚子銷夏記
A Record for Whiling Away the Summer of the Gēng-zǐ Year by 孫承澤 (Sūn Chéngzé, 1592–1676, 清, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A connoisseur’s summer commonplace-book in 8 juàn, by Sūn Chéngzé 孫承澤 (1592–1676), composed in Shùnzhì 17 gēngzǐ 庚子 (1660) — the gēngzǐ of the title — from the fourth through the sixth months, after his retirement from court. Juàn 1–3 are devoted to Jìn-to-Míng calligraphies and paintings in Sūn’s own collection; juàn 4–7 to ancient stone-inscriptions; juàn 8 is the Yùmù jì 寓目記 — pieces seen in other collections but not owned. Each entry first records the title, then a critical evaluation. The Sìkù critics single out Sūn’s connoisseurial taste and stylistic clarity — “in the legacy of Mǐ Fú and Huáng Chángruì” — but flag him on some evidential errors (e.g. he mistakes Qián Shí 錢時 of the Sòng, a Bìgé jiàokān and Shǐguǎn jiǎnyuè who finally served as commander-attaché of Jiāngdōng, for an unserved hermit). The book is one of the principal sources for late-Míng / early-Qīng northern collection-history: Sūn was a Hàn court official under the late Míng who survived the dynastic transition and continued to serve under the Qīng — his collection in Běijīng was a key node in the post-Míng dispersal of southern pieces northward.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Gēngzǐ xiāoxià jì in eight juàn, by Sūn Chéngzé of the present dynasty. Chéngzé’s Chūnmíng mèng yúlù and Tiānfǔ guǎngjì and other works are all already entered. In his later years Chéngzé tried to make a name for himself as a jiǎngxué practitioner; few critics granted his claims. Only in his connoisseurship of calligraphy and painting did he have a distinct specialty. This compilation was made after his retirement in Shùnzhì 17 (1660), beginning in the fourth month and continuing into the sixth — hence the title “summer-whiling-away.” Juàn 1–3 are calligraphy and painting authentic pieces of his own holdings, from the JìnTáng down to the Míng; juàn 4–7 are ancient stone-inscriptions; each entry first marks the title and adds an evaluation underneath. Juàn 8 is the Yùmù jì — pieces in others’ holdings that Chéngzé has seen — and is appended separately. The discussions are largely critical; among them there is some evidential commentary. For example: Qián Shí of the Sòng once served as Bìgé jiàokān and Shǐguǎn jiǎnyuè and finally as Jiāngdōng shuàishǔ; the standard biography records this clearly, but Chéngzé takes him for a hermit who never served. This type of error shows considerable failure of checking. Yet his connoisseurial judgment is fine and his prose elegant — he alone has the yífēng of Mǐ Fú and Huáng Chángruì; compared with Dǒng Yōu’s 董逌 muddy and obscure prose, he is indeed superior. Properly a resource for evidential research. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 43 (1778), fifth month.
Abstract
The Gēngzǐ xiāoxià jì is the principal record of Sūn Chéngzé’s connoisseurial activity, composed in the summer of 1660 after his retirement from court office. Sūn (zì Yàozhī 耀之 / Èrzhī 二知, hào Tuìgǔ 退谷, of Yìzhōu 益州, 1592–1676) was a Chóngzhēn 4 (1631) jìnshì under the late Míng, served the Shùn 順 government briefly in 1644, and finally entered Qīng service as Vice-Minister of Personnel and Right Vice-Director of the Censorate. His Běijīng collection — assembled partly from pieces brought north during the MíngQīng transition — was the principal source for the northern reconstitution of Jiāngnán’s dispersed late-Míng holdings. The catalog meta dates Sūn’s life 1592–1676 (matching CBDB), and the book’s gēngzǐ tag fixes its composition firmly in 1660. The work was widely read in the Qīng and remains a standard early-Qīng connoisseurial reference, especially for stele-and-stone-inscription tradition.
Translations and research
- Hú Hǎifān 胡海帆 and Tāng Yàn 湯燕. Sūn Chéngzé yǔ Tuì-gǔ-táng cáng-shū 孫承澤與退谷堂藏書. Beijing: Guójiā túshūguǎn chū-bǎn-shè, 2010.
- Nelson, Susan E. “Late Ming Views of Yuan Painting.” Artibus Asiae 44 (1983): 200–212.
- Cahill, James. The Distant Mountains. New York: Weatherhill, 1982.
- No standalone Western-language monograph on the Gēngzǐ xiāo-xià jì.