Dānyuān jí 丹淵集
The Dān-yuān Collection (of Wén Tóng) by 文同 (撰), edited by 家誠之 (編)
About the work
Dānyuān jí 丹淵集 is the 40-juǎn literary collection of Wén Tóng 文同 (1018–1079, zì Yǔkě 與可, hào Xiàoxiào jūshì 笑笑居士, posthumous Xiào 孝), the great Northern-Sòng zhú (bamboo) painter and poet, cousin and close friend of Sū Shì. Wén Tóng’s bamboo paintings are the founding work of the wénrénhuà 文人畫 (literati-painting) tradition; the proverb xiōng yǒu chéng zhú 胸有成竹 (“the perfected bamboo already in the breast”) originates with Sū Shì’s tribute to Wén Tóng’s painting practice. The SBCK title is the Chén Méigōng xiānshēng dìngzhèng Dānyuān jí 陳眉公先生訂正丹淵集 — the collection as edited by the late-Míng polymath Chén Jìrú 陳繼儒 (1558–1639, zì Méigōng 眉公) — though the Sòng base recension by Wén’s nephew Jiā Chéngzhī 家誠之 underlies the text.
Tiyao
No tíyào in the local SBCK file — the file carries instead the mùzhìmíng by Fàn Bǎilù 范百祿 (V1096-files at j. 0–1 in the SBCK), with detailed account of Wén’s career and family. The Sìkù WYG 40-juǎn tíyào (V1096.4) treats Wén’s painting and poetry as the principal literary expression of wénrén aesthetics; the Sìkù notes Wén’s intellectual seriousness as administrator (he died en route to Húzhōu in Yuánfēng 2 / 1079 age 62, just as he was taking up that prefectural post — making the famous “Wén Yǔkě had not yet reached Húzhōu” anecdote of Sū Shì’s the proximate frame for so much of late-Northern-Sòng literary mourning).
Abstract
Wén Tóng was born in Yǒngtài xiàn Xīnxìng xiāng Xīnxìng lǐ 永泰縣新興鄉新興里 in Zǐzhōu (Sìchuān) — a Sū-family relative on his mother’s side and Sū Shì’s first cousin once removed. Jìnshì of Huángyòu 1 / 1049 in the same examination as Wáng Ānshí. Held a sequence of provincial zhīzhōu posts including Yángzhōu, Língzhōu, Yuánzhōu, and finally Húzhōu (whence the conventional hào “Húzhōu”). Famous for the mòzhú 墨竹 (ink bamboo) painting tradition that Sū Shì and Mǐ Fú took as the founding model of wénrénhuà. The xiōng yǒu chéng zhú proverb derives from Sū Shì’s Wén Yǔkě huà yúndānggǔ yànzhú jì (preserved in Sū Shì’s Dōngpō jí) — Wén’s painting principle of “first see the entire bamboo in the heart, then take the brush.” Died in Yuánfēng 2 / 1079 age 62 at Chénzhōu’s lodging while transferring to Húzhōu.
The original collection of 40 juǎn was edited by Wén’s nephew Jiā Chéngzhī 家誠之 (his sister’s son). The Sòng witness was substantially intact; the SBCK reproduces the late-Míng Chén Jìrú (Chén Méigōng) editorial recension of Chóngzhēn 6 / 1633. Contents include substantial zhú (bamboo) painting jì and xù, exchange poetry with Sū Shì and Sū Zhé, zòu, biǎo, bēizhì. The dating bracket marks Wén’s death (1079) — and the late-Northern-Sòng compilation by Jiā Chéngzhī — to the late-Míng Chén Méigōng recension (1633).
Translations and research
- Bush, Susan. 1971. The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636). Harvard UP. Foundational treatment of the Sū Shì / Wén Tóng emergence of wén-rén-huà.
- Egan, Ronald C. 1994. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard UP. Extensive treatment of Wén Tóng / Sū Shì collaboration.
- Sturman, Peter. 1997. Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China. Yale UP. Treats Wén Tóng in the broader Northern-Sòng wén-rén aesthetic.
- Bickford, Maggie. 1996. Ink Plum: The Making of a Chinese Scholar-Painting Genre. Cambridge UP. Treats Wén Tóng’s bamboo painting as the proximate model for the méi (plum) genre.
Other points of interest
The proverb xiōng yǒu chéng zhú 胸有成竹 (“the perfected bamboo already in the breast”) — paraphrased from Sū Shì’s tribute to Wén Tóng’s painting method — is one of the most familiar idioms in Chinese aesthetic vocabulary and originates with this corpus and its reception in Sū Shì.
Links
- Wen Tong (Wikipedia)
- Wikidata Q1062167
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (wénrénhuà tradition); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).