畫禪室隨筆

Huàchán shì suíbǐ 畫禪室隨筆

Random Notes from the Painting-Chán Studio

by 董其昌 (Dǒng Qíchāng, 1555–1636, zì Yuánzǎi 元宰), Grand Secretary, Minister of Rites, and the principal art-theorist of the late Míng.

About the work

A 4-juàn late-Míng art-criticism bǐjì by 董其昌 (Dǒng Qíchāng), arranged across four juàn covering calligraphy, painting, miscellaneous notes, and chán-style musings. Juàn 1 contains: lùn yòng bǐ (on brushwork), píng fǎshū (evaluations of model calligraphies), bá zìshū (postfaces on his own calligraphies), and píng gǔtiè (evaluations of old rubbings). Juàn 2 contains: huàjué (painting maxims), huàyuán (sources of painting), tí zìhuà (inscriptions on his own paintings), and píng jiùhuà (evaluations of old paintings). Juàn 3 contains: jìshì (records of events), jìyóu (travel notes), píng shī (poetic criticism), and píng wén (prose criticism). Juàn 4 contains: záyán shàng / xià (miscellaneous sayings, two parts), Chǔzhōng suíbǐ (notes from the Húguǎng [Chǔ] period during his commission to invest the Prince of Chǔ), and chányuè (chán delights — Buddhist musings). The work is not a single-author composition but a compilation by later editors of Dǒng’s autograph colophons (tíbá), inscriptions, and occasional remarks. The book is the locus classicus for Dǒng’s articulation of the nán běi èr zōng (Southern-Northern Two Schools) theory of literati painting.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Huàchán shì suíbǐ in 4 juàn was compiled by Dǒng Qíchāng of the Míng. Qíchāng’s zì was Yuánzǎi, a Huátíng man of Sōngjiāng. Jìnshì of Wànlì jǐchǒu (1589); changed to shùjíshì; held office up to Lǐbù shàngshū (Minister of Rites), in charge of the Zhānshì fǔ (Office of Imperial Tutors), with the additional rank of Tàizǐ tàibǎo. He retired and died, posthumously titled Wénmǐn. His career is fully in the Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. Qíchāng’s heaven-given talent was brilliant; he was famous for calligraphy and painting, and men compared him to Mǐ Fú and Zhào Mèngfǔ.

This is his miscellaneous records. The first juàn is all on calligraphy; the second juàn all on painting — mostly composed of his autograph inscriptions and colophons that later men compiled into a volume. In all his evaluations he quite hits the sānmèi (deep mystery) of calligraphy and painting — for in this art his understanding was very deep, so his words on subtle matters hit the mark, truly worthy as a compass for artistic pursuits.

The third juàn is divided into the four sub-categories jìshì, jìyóu, píng shī, píng wén. Within: such things as the entry on Yáng Chéng’s taking Cài Jīng for Cài Jīng [the homophone confusion] are rather frivolous; and his attributing Lù Guīméng’s “White Lotus” poem to Pí Rìxiū is an error. Also Qíchāng was most rule-governed in eight-legged composition, so his prose criticism mostly discusses zhìyì (formal regulation prose) and he himself cites what aided him — yet in general it is refined and orderly, with much worth taking.

The fourth juàn is also divided into four sub-categories. The záyán shàng / xià are all xiǎopǐn informal essays. The Chǔzhōng suíbǐ are works composed when he was sent to invest the Prince of Chǔ, and serve as inspection material.

Only the chányuè division gathers up the residue of zōngmén (Chán school) talk and praises Lǐ Zhì 李贄 and Táo Wànglíng 陶望齡 — quite tinged with the contemporary habit. But the scholar-officials of his time were broadly so; this cannot really be blamed on Qíchāng alone.

Respectfully revised and submitted, eighth month of the forty-third year of Qiánlóng (1778).

Abstract

The Huàchán shì suíbǐ is the principal compilation of 董其昌 (Dǒng Qíchāng, 1555–1636)‘s pronouncements on calligraphy and painting. Dǒng — jìnshì of 1589, Minister of Rites, the most influential Chinese art critic and theorist of the 17th century — was the dominant figure of late-Míng calligraphy and painting and the architect of the nán běi èr zōng (Southern / Northern Two Schools) periodization of literati painting, which has structured the historiography of Chinese painting down to the present.

The book is not an integral monograph but a compilation by later editors of Dǒng’s tíbá (colophons), báyǔ (inscriptions), and occasional remarks, organized into four thematic juàn. The principal contributions:

1. Calligraphy theory (juàn 1). Dǒng’s brushwork maxims (lùn yòng bǐ) and his rankings of Tang and Sòng calligraphic masters are foundational late-Míng calligraphy theory, influencing the entire Qīng calligraphic tradition.
2. Painting theory (juàn 2). The huàyuán and huàjué sections contain the seminal articulations of the Southern-Northern Two Schools theory — assigning Wáng Wéi as patriarch of the Southern (literati) school, Lǐ Sīxùn as patriarch of the Northern (professional) school — a periodization that has shaped Chinese painting historiography.
3. Travel and literary criticism (juàn 3). Including the jìyóu (travel notes), and his píng shī / píng wén sections, with their substantial attention to zhìyì (regulation prose).
4. Chǔzhōng suíbǐ (juàn 4). A discrete sub-collection composed during his 1606 mission to invest the Prince of Chǔ; useful as a Húguǎng travel record.
5. Chán-style musings. The chányuè division shows Dǒng’s affinities with the Lǐ Zhì–Táo Wànglíng circle of late-Míng heterodox thinkers.

Dating. Composition spans Dǒng’s mature career (post-1589 jìnshì) to his death in 1636. NotBefore 1589, notAfter 1636.

Translations and research

Substantial Western-language scholarship on Dǒng exists, focused chiefly on his painting and calligraphy theory:

• The Century of Tung Ch’i-ch’ang, 1555–1636. Wai-kam Ho, ed., 2 vols., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art / University of Washington Press, 1992. The definitive English-language reference.
• James Cahill, The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570–1644, Tokyo / New York: Weatherhill, 1982.
• Wen C. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th–14th Century, Yale, 1992, ch. on Dǒng’s theory.
• Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636), Harvard, 1971. Treats the Huà-chán shì suí-bǐ directly.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Huàchán shì suíbǐ entry.
• Míng shǐ · Wényuàn zhuàn, biography of Dǒng Qíchāng.