Xuāndé dǐngyí pǔ 宣德鼎彝譜
Manual of the Tripods and Ritual Bronzes of the Xuāndé Era by 呂震 (Lǚ Zhèn, 1365–1426, 明, fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰)
About the work
An 8-juàn imperially-commissioned compendium documenting the Xuāndé 宣德 (1426–1435) imperial bronze re-casting project — the most famous single bronze-production event in late-medieval China, which gave rise to the “Xuāndé lú” 宣德爐 (Xuāndé censer) tradition. The catalog meta gives the compiler as Lǚ Zhèn 呂震 (1365–1426) and the Yáng Róng preface (preserved at the head of the transmitted text) is dated Xuāndé 3 / 9 (1428). The lifedate dating problem is real: per CBDB and the standard Míngshǐ lièzhuàn, Lǚ Zhèn died in Xuāndé 1 (1426) at age 62 suì (i.e. 1365–1426); but the preface and the Xuāndé project both date 1428 — Lǚ would already have been dead two years. The catalog meta’s “fl. 1386–1428” allows for Lǚ to have begun the work in late life, with the editing and presentation completed posthumously by surviving collaborators under Lǚ’s name. The Sìkù tíyào does not address this dating problem and accepts Lǚ as compiler. The book transmission is itself remarkable: as Wén Péng’s 文彭 Jiājìng jiǎwǔ 嘉靖甲午 (1534) colophon attests, the work was prepared in the Xuāndé court “for presentation only, never publicly issued” — it remained in the imperial archive, with a copy obtained by Yú Qiān 于謙 (the great loyal minister of Zhèngtǒng time) during his Ministry-of-Rites tenure; Wén Péng later transcribed his own copy from Yú Qiān’s descendants. Hence the work first reached the world in the Jiājìng period. The 8-juàn contents: juàn 1–2 record the Xuānzōng emperor’s imperial decree commissioning the casting and the Ministry-of-Rites and Ministry-of-Works memorials with proposed designs; juàn 3 the material-allocation requests and the named bronze-vessel inventories for the southern and northern Jiāo altars and the Military Academy / Wǔchéngdiàn; juàn 4 the named-inventory for the Tàimiào through the inner-palace halls; juàn 5 the named-inventory for the two-capital yámén (administrative offices) and the major mountain-and-historic-site temples, plus the Ministry-of-Works completion and supplementary-casting memorials and a single decree of commendation; juàn 6–8 are the detailed xiángshì glosses on the vessel names and meanings, with each piece’s “place, model, dimensions, material specifications” recorded in full.
Tiyao
We have respectfully examined: Xuāndé dǐngyí pǔ in eight juàn, by the Lǐbù shàngshū Lǚ Zhèn and others, imperially commanded to compile, in the Míng Xuāndé period. The front has a preface by Huágàidiàn dàxuéshì Yáng Róng 楊榮, also marked “imperially-commanded respectfully compiled.” The back has a Jiājìng jiǎwǔ (1534) colophon by Wén Péng saying: “obtained from the Yú Qiān household. In the Xuāndé period, the tàijiān Wú Chéng 吳誠 was in charge of the casting work; with Lǚ Zhèn and others he compiled this manual for presentation; never publicly issued; the world had no copy. Yú Qiān, during the Zhèngtǒng period, served as Director of Rites Cícáo; he obtained the copy from Chéng. Tífù (probably referring to Wén Péng’s father Wén Zhēngmíng), again through Yú Qiān’s descendants borrowed and transcribed it.” That is to say, when the book was first made, it was only for imperial presentation, never circulated; so it was not until the mid-Jiājìng period that it began to circulate. At first Xuānzōng [the Xuāndé emperor], finding the Jiāomiào tripods-and-vessels not conforming to ancient style, commanded the Gōngbù shàngshū Wú Zhōng 吳中 to consult the Bógǔ túlù and the various books, and the inner-archive’s Chái, Rǔ, Guān, Gē, Jūn and other kiln-styles, to re-cast; Zhèn and others compiled the before-and-after into this book.
Juàn 1–2 record the imperial decrees and the Ministry-of-Rites’ proposed-designs and the Ministry-of-Works’ material-discussions. Juàn 3 records the Ministry-of-Works’ material-allocation request memorial and the joint Ministry-of-Rites and Ministry-of-Works discussion of the named-vessels for the southern and northern Jiāo altars down to the Wǔxué and Wǔchéngdiàn. Juàn 4 records named-vessels for the Tàimiào through to the inner-palace halls. Juàn 5 records imperially-bestowed named-vessels for the two-capital yámén through to the famous mountain-and-historic-site temples of the realm, plus the Ministry-of-Works completion and supplementary-casting memorials and one decree of commendation. Juàn 6–8 jointly comprise the detailed gloss of the vessel-name meanings: each “where-and-what vessel, imitating such-and-such style” — every entry has its history, dimensions and manufacture in full.
The Xuānlú in the Míng period was already much imitated; this book’s analysis is exceptionally fine — usable for identification; usefully aids bóyǎ (broad-learning) inquiry. The end appends a few entries from Xiàng Yuánbiàn’s 項元汴 Xuānlú bólùn — also showing evidential research. Only — Wén Péng’s original colophon had the phrase “commanded an artisan to draw illustrations and dye-and-mount” — but this text lacks them; perhaps the transcribing dropped them.
Háng Shìjùn’s 杭世駿 Dàogǔtáng jí has an article “Written after the Xuāndé yíqì pǔ” saying: “This is the Xuāndé 3 (1428) Ministry-of-Works archive-file. The Liáoyáng Niánzhōngchéng Xīyáo took it out from the Bù (Ministry); because the Xuānzōng decree had the word Lúdǐngyíqì, he took it for that — what is dated by the Nián family is not the actual matter.” This contradicts our text — Háng evidently saw an incomplete copy hand-transcribed from the Nián Xīyáo home, hence wrote that comment, not to be relied on. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 53 (1788), sixth month.
Abstract
The Xuāndé dǐngyí pǔ is the principal document of the Xuāndé imperial bronze-recasting programme of 1428, the source of the famous “Xuāndé censer” tradition that became the centerpiece of late-Míng and Qīng connoisseurial collecting in the bronze-vessel category. The work systematically documents the Xuānzōng emperor’s revival of ancient bronze ritual vessels: the project was occasioned by the perceived failure of existing Míng altar-and-temple bronzes to conform to ancient style; the Xuānzōng court drew on the Xuānhé bógǔ tú KR3h0087 and on the various kiln-style holdings of the inner archive (the Chái, Rǔ, Guān, Gē, Jūn kilns of the Sòng) to develop new models. The work is the only systematic source for the resulting vessel inventory across all Tàimiào, palace, ritual altar and provincial temple locations. The work’s recovery by Yú Qiān 于謙 during his Lǐbù tenure under the Zhèngtǒng emperor and its later circulation in the Jiājìng through Wén Péng makes it a key node in late-Míng connoisseurial history. Catalog-vs-external dating note: the catalog meta gives Lǚ Zhèn’s activity as “fl. 1386–1428”; CBDB gives lifedates 1365–1426 — meaning Lǚ Zhèn would have been dead two years at the time of the 1428 preface and project completion. The catalog has effectively expanded the upper date to accommodate posthumous attribution; the work’s actual compilation/editing was probably finished by surviving members of Lǚ’s team after his 1426 death. Frontmatter dates follow the date of the preface.
Translations and research
- Mowry, Robert D. China’s Renaissance in Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100–1900. Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1993.
- Watt, James C. Y., and Denise Patry Leidy. Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.
- Chén Yùróu 陳玉柔 et al. Xuān-lú huì-shì 宣爐彙釋. Beijing: Wén-wù chū-bǎn-shè, 2008.
- Hsieh Ming-liang 謝明良. “Xuān-dé dǐng-yí pǔ yǔ Xuān-lú zhī shǐ” 宣德鼎彝譜與宣爐之史. Gùgōng xuéshù jì-kān (Taipei, Palace Museum) 25.4 (2008).
Other points of interest
The Háng Shìjùn / Nián Xīyáo controversy noted by the Sìkù editors is itself important: it touches the question of whether the Xuāndé dǐngyí pǔ is in its current form an authentic Xuāndé court document or a later compilation under that name. The Sìkù editors come down on the side of authenticity (rejecting Háng’s reading); twentieth-century scholarship has tended to treat the work as substantially authentic but with later interpolations.