格古要論

Gé gǔ yào lùn 格古要論

Essential Discussions for Examining Antiquity

by 曹昭 (Cáo Zhāo, zì Míngzhòng 明仲, fl. late 14th c.), Sōngjiāng connoisseur.

About the work

A 3-juàn early-Míng connoisseurship manual, the principal Chinese work of its kind to circulate in the West. Compiled by 曹昭 (Cáo Zhāo) and completed in Hóngwǔ 20 (1387), the book is organized into thirteen mén (sections): ancient bronzes, ancient paintings, ancient manuscripts, ancient stelae and model-letter rubbings, ancient qín, ancient inkstones, rare things, gold and iron, ancient kiln-wares (ceramics), ancient lacquers, brocades and silks, exotic woods, exotic stones. Each mén is further subdivided, the larger sections having thirty or forty sub-entries, the smaller five or six. Cáo’s father had been a collector; he was raised among antiquities and from youth made a habit of consulting the túpǔ (catalogues with illustrations) and tracing the láilì (provenance), grading and authenticating each object. The book distinguishes the true from the false and the superior from the inferior of famous antiquities, with mastery of the diǎngù (institutional background) and source-and-current. It is the foundational Chinese work on connoisseurship for non-painting object-types — bronzes, ceramics, lacquers, textiles, woods, stones — and has been the principal Chinese guide consulted by Western collectors and museums.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Gé gǔ yào lùn in 3 juàn was compiled by Cáo Zhāo of the Míng. Zhāo’s zì was Míngzhòng, a Sōngjiāng man. The book was completed in Hóngwǔ 20 (1387). It is divided into thirteen sections: gǔ tóngqì (ancient bronzes), gǔ huà (ancient paintings), gǔ mòjì (ancient manuscripts), gǔ bēi fǎtiě (ancient stelae and model-letters), gǔ qín, gǔ yàn (ancient inkstones), zhēnqí (rarities), jīntiě (gold and iron), gǔ yáoqì (ancient kiln-wares), gǔ qīqì (ancient lacquers), jǐnqǐ (brocades), yìmù (exotic woods), yìshí (exotic stones). Each section is again divided into several items — the more having thirty or forty, the fewer also five or six. On the authentic-vs-counterfeit and superior-vs-inferior distinctions of ancient and modern famous antique objects, [the book] can dissect them down to subtle points. Further, [he] thoroughly knows institutional matters; for all source-and-current, beginning-and-end, none is not held in the palm and clear. So his book is much esteemed by connoisseurs.

Láng Yīng’s Qī xiū lèi gǎo once argued that after the qín discussion he should have included an gǔ shēngguǎn (ancient mouth-organ and pipes); after the Chúnhuà model-letters he should have included a single juàn of pǔxì (genealogies); the zhēnbǎo section should have a Chǔmǔ lǜ (jadeite); the shèngtiě (sacred-iron) and yìshí category should have Dàlǐ xiāngū (the Dàlǐ marble); the yìmù section should have jiālán xiāng; the ancient bronzes should have bùdāo (spade and knife) coins; the ancient papers should have cángjīng paper; and after zhēnqí should be added a section on furs and feathers — fox, badger, peacock, kingfisher, leopard, rhino, etc.; and the wénfáng section is also not to be passed over. While Láng’s words seem to have reason, this book is just Cáo expressing what he had heard and seen as material for later antiquarians — which is different from a lèishū (encyclopedia) gathering matters comprehensively. We must not reproach the book for omission on the basis of one or two not yet covered.

Respectfully revised and submitted, seventh month of the forty-fifth year of Qiánlóng (1780).

Abstract

The Gé gǔ yào lùn is the foundational Chinese connoisseurship manual covering the full range of literati antiquities — bronzes, paintings, manuscripts, stelae and rubbings, ancient qín, inkstones, rare objects, metal-work, ceramics, lacquers, brocades, exotic woods, and exotic stones. Where Zhào Xīhú’s earlier Dòngtiān qīnglù (KR3j0167) was confined chiefly to writing-studio antiquities, the Gé gǔ yào lùn gives unprecedented breadth of object-type coverage.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Foundational object-type taxonomy. The thirteen mén set the framework for all subsequent Chinese connoisseurship manuals (Wén Zhènhēng’s Cháng wù zhì (KR3j0174), Gāo Lián’s Zūn shēng bā jiān (KR3j0172), etc.).
2. Ceramic and lacquer connoisseurship. The book provides one of the earliest sustained literati treatments of ceramics and lacquers — areas underserved by the Sòng connoisseurship tradition.
3. Westernmost reach of Chinese connoisseurship. The Gé gǔ yào lùn was partially translated and adopted as a principal reference work by Western collectors and museums in the 19th and 20th centuries; Sir Percival David’s translation (1971) — published as Chinese Connoisseurship: The Ko Ku Yao Lun, Faber, 1971 — remains a standard English reference.
4. Hóngwǔ origin. The 1387 date makes the book one of the earliest substantive Míng literary texts, composed within two decades of the founding of the dynasty.

Dating. Cáo’s preface is dated Hóngwǔ 20 (1387). Wáng Zuǒ 王佐 enlarged the work in Tiānshùn 3 (1459) as the Xīn zēng gé gǔ yào lùn 新增格古要論 in 13 juàn — a separate work. The WYG records here the original 3-juàn recension. NotBefore 1387, notAfter 1388 (Cáo’s preface plus circulation lag).

Translations and research

• Sir Percival David, Chinese Connoisseurship: The Ko Ku Yao Lun, Faber & Faber, 1971. Annotated English translation with critical apparatus.
• Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China, Polity, 1991. Treats the Gé gǔ yào lùn as a founding text of the Míng literati connoisseurship discourse.
• Robert van Gulik, Chinese Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur, Rome, 1958. Uses Gé gǔ yào lùn.
• Modern Chinese editions: Wáng Yún-wǔ 王雲五 in Cóng-shū jí-chéng, and later in the Lì-dài shū-huà shū-mù compilations.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Gé gǔ yào lùn entry.
• Wikipedia: Gegu yaolun.