Dòngtiān qīnglù 洞天清錄
Pure Records from the Grotto Heaven
by 趙希鵠 (Zhào Xīhú, fl. 1180–1240), Sòng imperial-clansman of the Yānwáng (Dézhāo) branch.
About the work
A 1-juàn Southern-Sòng bǐjì on the connoisseurship of antiquities, one of the founding texts of Chinese antiquarian and art-historical literature. 趙希鵠 (Zhào Xīhú) was a member of the Sòng imperial clan (Tàizǔ’s descendants, the Yānwáng Dézhāo branch); the book contains an internal reference to “Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240), returning from Lǐngyòu to Yíchūn,” indicating that the author was domiciled at Yuánzhōu in Jiāngxī. The book is organized into eleven topical sections: ancient qín (32 entries); ancient inkstones (12); ancient bells, dǐng, and bronze vessels (20); strange stones (11); inkstone-screens (5); brush-rests (3); water-droppers (2); ancient inscriptions and authentic manuscripts (4); ancient and modern stone-engravings (5); ancient and modern papers, flower-papers, and seal-colors (15); ancient paintings (29). The Sìkù editors praise the book’s grasp of origins and currents and its careful judgements — citing as examples the demonstration that the diāodǒu (cooking-vessel of campaigning troops) of the present, surviving as antiquities, are actually Wáng Mǎng-era wēidǒu (apotropaic vessels), and the demonstration that bronze rhinos, tiānlù, and toads commonly taken as water-droppers are in fact ancient oil-lamps. The book is one of the most influential pre-modern Chinese guides to art connoisseurship.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Dòngtiān qīnglù in 1 juàn was compiled by Zhào Xīhú of the Sòng. Xīhú was an imperial clansman; the Sòng shǐ shìxì biǎo lists him under the Yānwáng Dézhāo branch — that is, Tàizǔ’s descendant. His beginning and end cannot be investigated. In the book there is a passage “in Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240) returning from Lǐngyòu to Yíchūn,” so his home was at Yuánzhōu.
This book’s discussions are all on the recognition and distinction of old objects, calligraphy, and paintings. Gǔqín distinction in 32 entries; gǔyàn (ancient inkstone) distinction in 12 entries; gǔ zhōngdǐng yíqì (ancient bells and dǐng and ritual vessels) distinction in 20 entries; guàishí (strange stones) distinction in 11 entries; yànpíng (inkstone-screen) distinction in 5 entries; bǐgé (brush-rest) distinction in 3 entries; shuǐdī (water-dropper) distinction in 2 entries; ancient hànmò zhēnjì (manuscripts) distinction in 4 entries; ancient and modern shíkè distinction in 5 entries; ancient and modern paper, flower-paper, and seal-color distinction in 15 entries; gǔhuà distinction in 29 entries.
Generally [the book] insightfully grasps origins and currents, with refined and acute analysis. Such as: saying that the diāodǒu are army-cooking implements — the so-called ancient diāodǒu of the present age are of the Wáng Mǎng wēidǒu type, used for yànshèng (apotropaic) purposes. And again: the present bronze rhinos, tiānlù, toads, etc., were all anciently used by men to hold oil for lighting lamps; present men mistake them for water-droppers. His citations and evidence are all firm — truly a connoisseur’s compass.
The Míng prince Níngxiànwáng Quán once cut blocks of this in Jiāngxī (see Níngfān shūmù); Cáo Róng’s Xù yìpǔ sōuqí records the same edition as this copy — both came from the old Níngwáng cutting. The Míng Qiántáng man Zhōng Rénjié’s TángSòng cóngshū separately records a copy quite different from this. Examining its content there is Yáng Shèn’s words, the name of the Níng shùrén Chénhào, and the era-names Yǒnglè, Xuāndé, Chénghuà — how could Xīhú have known these? It is plainly a forgery cobbled together from other books and bearing his name; this need not be argued.
Respectfully revised and submitted, eleventh month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).
Abstract
The Dòngtiān qīnglù is one of the foundational texts of Chinese antiquarian and art-historical writing — the principal Southern-Sòng treatise on the connoisseurship of antiquities and artworks. 趙希鵠 (Zhào Xīhú), as a Sòng imperial clansman domiciled at Yuánzhōu (Jiāngxī), wrote from a position of considerable cultural authority.
The work’s principal contributions:
- Foundational antiquarian theory. The book establishes the framework for Chinese antiquarian literature, organized by object-type with discussions of materials, methods of authentication, and connoisseurship distinctions. Its eleven topical sections become the standard subdivisions for later antiquarian writing.
- Methodological clarity. Zhào’s identification of the diāodǒu as actually Wáng-Mǎng-era wēidǒu, and his correction of the bronze-rhino / toad water-dropper misidentification, are exemplary instances of careful historical reasoning about material culture.
- Influence. The book shapes the entire late-Sòng to Qīng tradition of gǔwù pǔ (catalogues of antiquities) and jiànshǎng literature, including Cáo Zhāo’s Gégǔ yàolùn (KR3j0170) and the Míng connoisseurship treatises.
- Textual problems. The book exists in two distinct recensions. The WYG copy (here) descends from the Míng Níngwáng Quán’s Jiāngxī cutting. A separate copy in Zhōng Rénjié’s TángSòng cóngshū contains evident Míng interpolations — Yáng Shèn references, the Níngwáng Chénhào personal name, and era-names — and is rejected by the Sìkù editors as forged.
Dating. The internal Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240) reference dates the work to the early 1240s. NotBefore 1240, notAfter 1242 (conservative window).
Translations and research
- T. C. Lai, Things Chinese, Swindon Books, 1971 — partial translation of the qín section.
- Robert van Gulik, The Lore of the Chinese Lute, Sophia University Press, 1940 (rev. ed. 1969) — translates and discusses the gǔ-qín sections.
- James C. Y. Watt, “Antiquarianism and Naturalism,” in Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.
- Modern Chinese editions: critical edition by Wáng Yùn-wǔ 王雲五 in Wàn-yǒu wén-kù series; later punctuated edition in Lì-dài shū-huà shū-mù compilations.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Dòngtiān qīnglù entry.