清祕藏

Qīng mì cáng 清祕藏

Pure-Secret Treasury

by 張應文 (Zhāng Yìngwén, zì Màoshí 茂實), Kūnshān connoisseur, polished by his son 張謙德 (Zhāng Qiāndé). Note: 張謙德 is more commonly known as 張丑 (Zhāng Chǒu) — his given name after his change.

About the work

A 2-juàn late-Míng connoisseurship treatise compiled by 張應文 (Zhāng Yìngwén) and polished by his son 張謙德 (Zhāng Qiāndé, later Zhāng Chǒu 張丑). Zhāng Yìngwén — a Kūnshān jiānshēng (licentiate) who repeatedly failed the examinations and consequently devoted himself to antiquities, calligraphy, and painting — composed the Qīng hé shū huà fǎng 清河書畫舫 and Zhēnjì rìlù 真迹日錄. The title Qīng mì cáng — according to Wáng Zhìdēng’s 王穉登 preface — takes its name from Ní Zàn’s 倪瓚 Yuán-era Qīngmì gé 清祕閣 (Pure-Secret Pavilion). The upper juàn is divided into 20 sections; the lower juàn into 10 sections, with arrangement somewhat resembling Zhào Xīhú’s Dòngtiān qīnglù (KR3j0167). Much of the prose adopts older sources (e.g., Jiāng Yān’s Tóng jiàn zàn for the bronze-sword entry) without attribution — a typical Míng compilation habit. The discussion of famous incenses leans heavily on Buddhist scriptures; the discussion of rarities cites xiǎoshuō and unreliable lore. But the substantive grading and authentication of antiquities, and the discussion of mounting (zhuāngbèi), is well done. The book ends with a personal note from Zhāng on his own collection (only a few key items) — which conflicts with his son Zhāng Chǒu’s Qīng hé shū huà biǎo (listing 31 items under the father’s name). The Sìkù editors suspect Zhāng Chǒu of inflating his father’s holdings.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Qīng mì cáng in 2 juàn was compiled by Zhāng Yìngwén of the Míng and polished by his son [Zhāng] Qiāndé. Yìngwén’s zì was Màoshí; a Kūnshān jiānshēng; repeatedly failed the exams, so he wholly devoted himself to amusing himself with ancient objects, calligraphy, and painting. He composed the Qīng hé shū huà fǎng and Zhēnjì rìlù; Zhāng Chǒu was his eldest son. This work miscellaneously discusses connoisseurship objects. The name Qīng mì cáng — Wáng Zhìdēng’s preface says he took the idea from Ní Zàn’s Qīngmì gé. The upper juàn has 20 categories, the lower 10 categories. Its arrangement loosely resembles Zhào Xīhú’s Dòngtiān qīnglù; the text mostly takes earlier men’s old discussions — as the bronze-sword entry follows Jiāng Yān’s Tóng jiàn zàn, and the like — and never cites sources. This is the Míng-era habit of plagiaristic appropriation. Within, the famous incenses cite many Buddhist scriptures; the rarities cite many xiǎoshuō, mixed with zǐxū wūyǒu (fictional) talk — also not authoritative.

But for all object-categories he distinguishes the authentic from the counterfeit, ranks them, and treats storage and mounting matters — each said in great detail; also worth taking. The end-of-juàn entry on what he held and what he had seen says that the calligraphies he held were only one juàn of Sòng Gāozōng’s running-script, Sū Zǐzhān’s poem-draft, and Yuán Zhào Zǐáng’s Guītián fù; the famous paintings he held were only Táng Zhōu Fáng’s Xì yīng tú, a Sòng-man’s eight panels of luóhàn, one Huà yuàn zá jì album, and one Yuán Ní Yúnlín minor landscape. But his son [Zhāng] Chǒu, in the Qīng hé shū huà biǎo, lists 31 items under his father’s name. This book was completed at the very moment Yìngwén was approaching death; he could not have been “still continuing to purchase” by way of explanation. So we suspect Chǒu’s list also boasts his father’s wealth — not fully to be believed.

This copy is the Zhī bù zú zhāi cutting of the Zhèjiāng Bào Shìgōng family, originally appended after Chǒu’s Zhēnjì rìlù — after the manner of the Fá tán jí appended to the end of the Shāngǔ jí. Now since they are each a book in their own right, we separate it out and record it separately.

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

Abstract

The Qīng mì cáng is one of the principal late-Míng connoisseurship treatises, in 30 topical sections covering bronzes, jades, calligraphies, paintings, incenses, qín, inkstones, rarities, and antiquities. The work is the joint production of 張應文 (Zhāng Yìngwén) and his son 張謙德 (Zhāng Qiāndé, later better known as Zhāng Chǒu 張丑), Sūzhōu-area connoisseurs in the Wáng Shìzhēn / Wáng Zhìdēng late-Míng literary network.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Topical authentication manual. The 30-section organization — covering bronzes, ritual vessels, swords, calligraphies, paintings, qín, inkstones, incenses, papers, inks, brushes, ceramics, lacquers, jades, brocades — is one of the most comprehensive late-Míng connoisseurship taxonomies.
2. Mounting and storage. The book’s treatment of zhuāngbèi (mounting) and storage practice is a significant contribution to the history of art conservation in China.
3. Father-son collaboration. The compositional history — the father composing, the son polishing — and the contradiction between the book’s modest self-report of holdings and the son’s later Qīng hé shū huà biǎo (listing 31 items under the father’s name) gives the work an unusual documentary value for late-Míng family connoisseurship dynamics.

Dating. Completion roughly coincides with Zhāng Yìngwén’s late life. The Wáng Zhìdēng preface and the son’s polish must come together. NotBefore 1590 (Wáng Zhìdēng’s active prefatory period), notAfter 1605 (a conservative late bracket).

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language treatment located. The work is treated in Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things (1991), and in scholarship on Zhāng Chǒu’s later Qīng hé shū huà fǎng connoisseurship corpus.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Qīng mì cáng entry.