Bǎojìn yīngguāng jí 寶晉英光集
Treasured-Jin Hero-Light Collection (of Mǐ Fú) by 米芾 (撰)
About the work
Bǎojìn yīngguāng jí 寶晉英光集 (named from Mǐ Fú 米芾 米芾’s studio name Bǎojìnzhāi 寶晉齋 + hall name Yīngguāngtáng 英光堂 — combined into the single title) is the literary collection of Mǐ Fú (1051–1107), the major calligrapher / painter / poet / connoisseur of late-Northern Sòng. The work was lost in the Nándù and reassembled in Shàodìng rénchén / 1232 by Yuè Kē 岳珂 (Yuè Fēi’s grandson) when zhī Rùnzhōu — having restored Mǐ’s cítáng (memorial shrine) at Hǎiyuèyuán, Yuè systematically collected Mǐ’s surviving documents and edited them into the present collection. Yuè’s preface (preserved at the head of the Sìkù recension) frames Rùnzhōu (Zhènjiāng) as the natural locus of MǐFú memorialization. The original Shānlín jí (so listed in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì) was 100 juǎn; Yuè’s reassemblage is less than one-tenth. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Bǎojìn jí in 14 juǎn — different from this 8-juǎn state. Zhāng Chǒu 張丑’s postscript (preserved at the end of the Sìkù recension) records additional pieces interpolated from the Yīngguāngtáng tiè, Qúnyùtáng tiè, and Xìhóngtáng tiè collections of Mǐ-Fú-attributed calligraphy — making the present recension a superimposition of Yuè’s 1232 base with Míng-period antiquarian additions.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Bǎojìn yīngguāng jí in 8 juǎn by Mǐ Fú of the Sòng. Fú has Huàshǐ, already cataloged. His collection after the Nándù was already scattered and lost. Shàodìng rénchén / 1232 Yuè Kē while in office at Rùnzhōu — restoring Fú’s shrine — collected his lost prose into one biān; further composed a preface — the preface does not give juǎn-count and says: “the Shānlín jí originally 100 juǎn; what we now gather and add together does not even reach one-tenth” — clearly this is the běn — yet Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Bǎojìn jí in 14 juǎn — different from this běn. Further this běn back has Zhāng Chǒu’s postscript saying: obtained from Wú Kuān’s family; in the middle some shīwén are noted as added from the Yīngguāngtáng tiè; some noted as added from the Qúnyùtáng — clearly not Yuè Kē’s original běn. Further some noted as added from the Xìhóngtáng tiè — clearly also not Wú Kuān’s family original běn. Examined: Bǎojìn — Fú’s zhāi-name; Yīngguāng — Fú’s táng-name; combining the two míng into one book — the ancients had no such precedent. Could it be: originally named Bǎojìn jí, later persons used the Yīngguāngtáng tiè to supplement, and changed the title to this name? Fú by shūhuà renowned, but his wénzhāng is also rather not vulgar. Zēng Mǐnxíng’s Dúxǐng zázhì records: he once with one juǎn of poetry threw to Xǔ Chōngyuán saying: “Fú himself can speak phrases not transmitted from ancients; age 30 as Chángshā chéng (commune-prefect of Chángshā) burned all his earlier compositions; lifetime not recording one piece thrown to wánggōng guìrén (great lords); on encountering zhìjǐ (intimates) seeking one or two pieces — then sends them. In Yuánfēng came to Jīnlíng, met Wáng Jièfǔ (Ānshí); passed Sūzhōu met Sū Zǐměi (Shùnqīn); to the present-day not paying dìzǐ respects” — clearly self-consideration is rather extreme — generally as his diāntài (eccentric appearance). Yet Wú Kě’s Cánghǎi shīhuà cites Hán Jū’s saying that Fú’s poetry has è (bad) but no fán (mediocre); Yuè Kē’s preface cites Sīlíng hànmò zhì saying: “Fú’s poetry-and-prose, words without dàoxí (footstep-tracing), out beyond fēngyān — feeling its words and brush-strokes seems to have língyún zhī qì (cloud-ascending spirit)” (note: this entry is not in the present běn of Sīlíng hànmò zhì). Mǐnxíng further records Sū Shì once said: “Zì Hǎinán guī, zhōuzhōng wén zhūzǐ sòng suǒzuò gǔfù, shǐ hèn zhī zhī zhī wǎn (returning from Hǎinán, in the boat hearing his sons recite his composed gǔfù, only then regretting recognizing him too late).” Generally his xiōngcì jì gāo, gù tǔyán tiānbá (chest-and-thoughts already lofty, hence speech naturally rises high) — although not following guīguī shéngmò (compass-and-square rules), the qìyùn (spirit-and-flow) is naturally distinct. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 10th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Bǎojìn yīngguāng jí preserves Mǐ Fú’s surviving prose-and-poetry across the Yuánfēng / Yuányòu / Shàoshèng / Yuánfú phases. The corpus is heavily inflected by Mǐ’s connoisseur-collector identity: many pieces are tíbá (colophon) on calligraphy and painting; a substantial wénfáng (writing-instrument) and yǎjù (refined-objects) corpus reflects his Bǎojìnzhāi studio program. The Yuè Kē 1232 reassembly — drawing on the surviving Hǎiyuèyuán shrine documents — is one of the model post-Jìngkāng biéjí reconstitutions; the post-Yuè Míng-period interpolations from the Yīngguāngtáng / Qúnyùtáng / Xìhóngtáng engraved-calligraphy collections superimpose layered antiquarian additions. Sū Shì’s late-life lament — zì Hǎinán guī…shǐ hèn zhī zhī zhī wǎn — is the canonical Sòng evaluation. Bibliographically: the Yuè-base + WúKuān expansion + ZhāngChǒu postscript = the present 8-juǎn state; the original 100-juǎn Shānlín jí is irrecoverable. Dating bracket: Yuè Kē’s reassembly (1232) to the Sìkù re-collation (1781).
Translations and research
- Sturman, Peter Charles. 1997. Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China. Yale UP. The standard English-language monograph; uses both the Shū-shǐ and the Bǎo-jìn yīng-guāng jí.
- Egan, Ronald C. 2006. The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China. Harvard. Treats Mǐ Fú extensively.
- Cáo Bǎo-lín 曹寶麟. 1986. Mǐ Fú zhuàn 米芾傳. Standard Chinese biography.
Other points of interest
The Yuè Kē 1232 reassembly — coming 125 years after Mǐ’s death and 105 years after the Jìngkāng loss of the original Shānlín jí — is one of the more striking instances of Southern-Sòng biéjí recovery driven by cítáng (shrine-building) cultural-memorial enterprise. Yuè Kē’s Hǎiyuèyuán restoration program at Rùnzhōu deliberately echoed the Hǎiyuè in Mǐ’s own hào and made the Rùnzhōu connection structural to the Bǎojìn yīngguāng jí identity.
Links
- Mi Fu (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §60.4 (calligraphy); §60.5 (painting).