Shítián shīxuǎn 石田詩選
Stone-Field Selected Poems by 沈周 (撰), 華汝德 (編)
About the work
Shítián shīxuǎn 石田詩選 in 10 juǎn — a topically-arranged selection (in 31 categories: tiānwén, shílìng, etc., on the Sòng-era category-arrangement of Dù Fǔ’s poetry) from the poetic corpus of Shěn Zhōu 沈周 (1427–1509), zì Qǐnán 啟南, hào Shítián 石田 (Stone-Field) and Báishíwēng 白石翁 in old age, native of Chángzhōu 長洲 (Sūzhōu, Jiāngsū). The greatest landscape painter of the Wúpài 吳派 (Wú School) and the foundation-figure (with the four canonical Wúménsìjiā: Shěn Zhōu, Wén Zhēngmíng 文徵明, Táng Yín 唐寅, Qiú Yīng 仇英) of the high-Wù-school painting tradition. Shěn has the Shítián zájì 石田雜記 separately catalogued. The selection was made by Shěn’s friend Huá Rǔdé 華汝德, Guānglùsì shǔchéng; per the Zhāng Fū 張鈇 of Cíxī 慈谿 bá (postface), this is a fēnlèi (categorized) recension. The collection has at the head a Wú Kuān 吳寬 preface (Wú is the great Hóng-zhì-era Lǐbù shàngshū and Sūzhōu literary leader) and a Lǐ Dōngyáng (李東陽) post-preface — both for the complete biéjí, not for this selection. The Sìkù tíyào emphasizes that Shěn Zhōu was a painter first, a poet second: although Dū Mù 都穆 famously discussed poetic lǜ (rules) with Shěn (the qīngdēng lèiyǎn kū 青燈淚眼枯 anecdote), Shěn’s huàjìng mínggāo, tuírán tiānfàng (painting-realm increasingly high, freely floating in heaven-spontaneity) — he wrote poetry as a free pendant to painting, bù shí qǔ gōng (not seeking craft by character-and-line), jìxìng yú dīngqí zhī wài (lodging interest beyond the boundary).
Tiyao
Shítián shīxuǎn in 10 juǎn — by Shěn Zhōu of the Míng. Zhōu has the Shítián zájì, already recorded. This collection does not mark the tǐzhì (formal mode) and does not record by year-and-month, but only divides into tiānwén, shílìng, etc. — 31 categories: clearly imitating the Sòng men’s category-arrangement of Dù Fǔ’s poetry. According to Zhāng Fū of Cíxī’s postface, [the editor was] his friend the Guānglùsì shǔchéng Huá Rǔdé. Gù Yuánqìng’s 顧元慶 Yíbáizhāi shīhuà records that Dū Mù studied poetry with Zhōu; once composing the Jiéfù shī (Chaste-Widow Poem), [he had] the line qīngdēng lèiyǎn kū (green-lamp, tear-eyes withered); Zhōu, [holding] that ritually a widow does not cry at night, suggested the dēng (lamp) character was not stable. So Zhōu was bù wéi bù xì (not unsubtle) on poetic rules. Yet Zhōu by painting bore one age’s name; poetry was not his liúyì (concentrated attention). Also in his late years his painting-realm rose ever higher, tuírán tiānfàng, fāngyuán zìzào, wéi yì suǒ rú (freely-floating in heaven-spontaneity, square-and-round self-made, only as the will sees fit). His poetry too is huīsǎ línlí, zì xiě tiānqù (sweeping-pouring, self-writing heaven’s interest); clearly because he does not qǔ gōng by zìjù, but only by lodging-the-heart in mountains-and-ravines, fame-and-profit both forgotten, wind-and-moon coming-and-going, smoke-and-cloud feeding his bosom — he originally has no dust-burden — so what he made is also bù diāo bù zhuó, zìrán bású (not carving, not polishing, naturally outstanding-of-the-vulgar), jìxìng yú dīngqí zhī wài, kě yǐ yìhuì ér bùkě jiā zhī yǐ shéngxuē (lodging interest beyond boundaries, can be intuited but not added to with rule-and-cutting); qí yú shī yě, yì kě wèi jiàowài biéchuán yǐ (in the matter of poetry, can also be called jiàowài biéchuán — the [Chán-school formula] separate transmission outside the doctrine). Dū Mù’s Nánháo shīhuà names his Yǒng qián, yǒng ménshén, yǒng lián, yǒng hùntáng, yǒng yánghuā, yǒng luòhuā couplets, all unavoidably suǒ zhī yú jùxià (search beneath the line); clearly because Mù’s attainment in poetry is not deep, so his sight is only this. The collection’s head has a Wú Kuān preface — saying his poetic-superplus emerges as illustrations, miào bī gǔrén (marvellously approaching the ancients). Examined substantially: Zhōu was originally yǐ huà zhī yúshì yì ér wéi shī, fēi yǐ shī zhī yúshì yì ér wéi huà (by painting’s leftover, overflowed into poetry; not by poetry’s leftover, overflowed into painting). Wú’s preface to the poetry takes the poetry as host and the painting as guest. Also there is a Lǐ Dōngyáng post-preface; Dōngyáng and Zhōu were not acquainted; at the time he was already dàxuéshì — with Zhōu the gulf was great; through Wú Kuān once showing him the manuscript, he weighted the man, so 30 years later supplemented this composition. Yet the two prefaces are both made for the complete collection. Huá Rǔdé’s cutting of this xuǎnběn simply followed and recorded them — they are not prefaces to this text. Compiled and presented respectfully in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Shěn Zhōu is the foundational figure of the Wúpài (Wú School) Míng painting tradition — the great mid-Míng landscape painter; together with his pupil Wén Zhēngmíng 文徵明, the next-generation Táng Yín 唐寅, and Qiú Yīng 仇英, the canonical Wúmén sìjiā 吳門四家 (Four Masters of the Wú Gate). The Sìkù tíyào’s chief framing principle — that Shěn was primarily a painter who overflowed into poetry as a free pendant — is significant for art-history: Shěn’s poetry is principally documentary on his painting practice, not the other way round. The jiàowài biéchuán (separate transmission outside the doctrine) Chán-school metaphor is a notable case of the Sìkù editors using a Buddhist-philosophical framing for a literati-painter’s poetic practice.
The two-stage transmission (the original biéjí, with Wú Kuān and Lǐ Dōngyáng prefaces; the present 10-juǎn category-arranged selection by Huá Rǔdé, modelled on the Sòng-era category-arrangement of Dù Fǔ) is one of the cleaner cases of friend-network selection-and-circulation in mid-Míng biéjí practice.
CBDB id 34784 (1427–1509) confirms catalog meta dates.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Major notice of Shěn Zhōu.
- Richard Edwards, The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427–1509). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1962.
- James Cahill, Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, 1368–1580. New York / Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1978. Detailed treatment of Shěn Zhōu.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí) and §35 (painting).
Other points of interest
The category-arrangement (31 categories on the Sòng fēnlèi of Dù Fǔ tradition) is one of the more striking organizational choices in the mid-Míng biéjí corpus — it explicitly invokes the Sòng DùLì xué (Dù Fǔ scholarship) tradition for arrangement.