負暄野錄

Fù xuān yě lù 負暄野錄

Rustic Records While Basking in the Sun

by 陳槱 (Chén Yǒu), Sòng Shàoxī 1 (1190) jìnshì, of Chánglè 長樂 (Fújiàn).

About the work

A 2-juàn Sòng bǐjì on calligraphy, stone-engravings, and the tools of the writing studio. The old text had no surname; a Zhìzhèng 7 (1347) postface by Wáng Dōng 王東 notes “I do not know who wrote this.” On internal evidence — the Qínxǐ entry begins “I, Yǒu, once heard the elder masters discuss…” — the author’s given name is Yǒu beyond doubt; the title-attribution to Chén surname is conjectural. The Sìkù editors connect this with the Mǐn shū’s record of Chén Yǒu, grandson of Chén Jǐ 陳幾, a Chánglè man and Shàoxī 1 (1190) jìnshì; the book’s Qínxǐ entry mentions a Jiādìng jǐmǎo (1219) date; the gap from Shàoxī 1 to Jiādìng jǐmǎo is only some 30 years — fitting Chén Yǒu’s life. Another entry refers to having heard Yóu Mào 尤袤 of Liángxī directly — also Guāngzōng / Níngzōng era. The attribution to this Chén Yǒu is therefore probable. The book’s upper juàn discusses stone-engravings and the styles of various calligraphers; the lower juàn discusses methods of learning calligraphy and the tools (paper, ink, brush, inkstone) — well-founded throughout. The Sìkù editors note one error: the shǔxū bǐ shī (Rat-Whisker Brush poem) recorded by Chén as “by Shào Dàoyù” is attributed by the Sòng wénjiàn (whose Xiéchuān jí was still extant) to Sū Guò — a failure of kǎozhèng on Chén’s part.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Fù xuān yě lù in 2 juàn was attributed in the old text to Chén Yǒu, without dating. At the end of the juàn there is a Zhìzhèng 7 (1347) postface by Wáng Dōng, which says “I do not know who wrote it” — so the copy then seen was unsigned. Now examining within the book the Qínxǐ entry — “Yǒu once heard the elder masters discuss” — the person’s given name is Yǒu beyond doubt; but we do not know on what evidence it was attributed to Chén surname. According to Mǐn shū, Chén Yǒu was the grandson of Chén Jǐ, a Chánglè man, jìnshì of Shàoxī 1 (1190). The book’s Qínxǐ entry contains the words Jiādìng jǐmǎo (1219); counting from Guāngzōng’s Shàoxī 1 down to Níngzōng’s Jiādìng jǐmǎo is only 30 years from start to end. Also the XīHàn bēi entry mentions hearing the words of Liángxī Yóu Mào — regretting that he could not ask again — also during the Guāngzōng / Níngzōng era. So we suspect [the author] is indeed this Chén Yǒu.

His book’s upper juàn discusses stone-engravings and various calligraphers’ style. The lower juàn discusses methods of learning calligraphy and matters of paper, ink, brush, and inkstone — all clear in source and current, useful for textual investigation. As to his record of one Shǔxū bǐ shī — the Sòng wénjiàn titles it as “by Sū Guò” — at his time the Xiéchuān jí still existed, certainly no mistake; yet Chén says “yesterday I saw Shào Dàoyù compose [a poem] on the rat-whisker brush, very stylish; now I record it here.” This is a great failure of kǎo (investigation).

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

Abstract

The Fù xuān yě lù is one of the most substantive Southern-Sòng treatises on calligraphic theory and the wénfáng sìbǎo (Four Treasures of the Writing Studio: paper, ink, brush, inkstone). Its author 陳槱 (Chén Yǒu) is identifiable by internal evidence — convergence of the Shàoxī (1190) jìnshì date implied by his hearing Yóu Mào in person and the Jiādìng jǐmǎo (1219) explicit date — with the Chánglè jìnshì recorded in the Mǐn shū.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Calligraphic theory. The upper juàn on the styles of past calligraphers and the lower juàn on the wénfáng sìbǎo together constitute one of the principal Sòng treatises on calligraphic practice.
2. Stone-engravings. Chén’s discussion of stone-engravings preserves observations of inscriptions that have since been lost or further damaged.
3. Material culture. The notes on paper, ink, brush, and inkstone — including the citation from Yóu Mào on the XīHàn bēi — are a primary source for Sòng material culture of writing.
4. Recension problem. The work was transmitted unsigned and Wáng Dōng’s 1347 postface confirms the author was unknown by the Yuán; the Sìkù editors’ reconstruction of the authorship is a model of kǎozhèng recovery.

Dating. The book’s Jiādìng jǐmǎo (1219) reference gives a firm internal date. NotBefore 1190 (his jìnshì), notAfter 1219 (the internal date; the work may have been finished slightly later but no later evidence is preserved).

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language treatment located. The work is cited extensively in modern scholarship on Sòng calligraphy and on the wén-fáng sì-bǎo tradition; see Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, Written on Bamboo and Silk, Chicago, 1962 (rev. 2004), for the broader context; and Tsien, Paper and Printing, in Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5 pt. 1, Cambridge, 1985.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Fù xuān yě lù entry.