文氏五家集

Wén shì wǔ jiā jí 文氏五家集

Collected Poetry of the Five-Generation Wén Family by 文洪, 文徵明 et al.

About the work

A 14-juǎn family poetry anthology of the Wén family of Chángzhōu 長洲 (Sūzhōu region) — four generations, five family members — assembled by an unknown compiler in late Míng. The five Wén poets are:

1. Wén Hóng (文洪, zì Gōngdà 功大; Chénghuà yǐyǒu (1465) jǔrén; Láishuǐ jiàoyù) — Kuònáng gǎo 括囊稿 (1 juǎn of verse + 1 juǎn of prose). The family literary founder.
2. Wén Zhēngmíng (文徵明, 1470–1559, zì Hēngshān 衡山; one of the Four Masters of Wú 吳門四家 painters) — Fǔtián jí 甫田集 (4 juǎn of verse). Wén Hóng’s grandson; the family’s most famous member.
3. Wén Péng 文彭 (Wén Zhēngmíng’s eldest son, zì Shòuchéng 壽承; Nánjīng guózǐjiàn bóshì) — Bóshì shī 博士詩 (2 juǎn).
4. Wén Jiā 文嘉 (Wén Zhēngmíng’s second son, zì Xiūchéng 休承; Hézhōu xuézhèng) — Hézhōu shī 和州詩 (1 juǎn).
5. Wén Zhàozhǐ 文肇祉 (Wén Péng’s son, zì Jīshèng 基聖; Shànglínyuàn lùshì) — verse (5 juǎn).

The total compilation = 14 juǎn. The work documents the Wén family’s literary tradition across four generations (great-grandfather Wén Hóng → grandfather/father Wén Zhēngmíng → fathers/sons Wén Péng & Wén Jiā → son Wén Zhàozhǐ).

Tiyao

Your servants respectfully submit: the Wénshì wǔjiā jí in 14 juǎn — the Míng Chángzhōu Wén-family four-generation five-person verse. Wén Hóng zì Gōngdà, Chénghuà yǐyǒu (1465) jǔrén; served as Láishuǐ jiàoyù. Authored Kuònáng gǎo — 1 juǎn verse + 1 juǎn prose. His grandson Zhēngmíng authored Fǔtián jí — 4 juǎn verse. Zhēngmíng’s eldest son Péng zì Shòuchéng, Nánjīng guózǐjiàn bóshì — authored Bóshì shī 2 juǎn. Second son Jiā zì Xiūchéng, Hézhōu xuézhèng — authored Hézhōu shī 1 juǎn. Péng’s son Zhàozhǐ zì Jīshèng, Shànglínyuàn lùshì — also authored verse in 5 juǎn.

Among them: only Zhēngmíng is most famous; but the yuānyuán (deep-source) of his family-learning began with Wén Hóng. The Jìngzhìjū shīhuà praises Wén Hóng’s lines: “Yě yuán kuī luò guǒ — lín dié liàn cán huā; Zìdé fānshū qù — hún wàng duìkè yán” (“Wild apes peek at fallen fruit — forest butterflies linger on withering blossoms; Self-content in turning the book over — utterly forgetting the talk with the guest”) — having a tiándàn (calm-tranquil) quality.

Zhēngmíng’s poetic style is not lofty (gé bùgāo) but his yìjìng (imagined-scenery) naturally rises above the vulgar. As for Péng, Jiā, and Zhàozhǐ — by ěrrǔ mùrǎn (ear-soaked, eye-stained — i.e. literary inheritance), they can carry forward the ancestral thread. As Xiè Língyùn’s saying goes: “The Xiè-family’s offspring — even those who are not upright — still all yìyì (radiantly) carry a fēngqì (atmosphere)“.

Wén Zhēngmíng’s Fǔtián jí has already been catalogued — but the juǎn-pages are continuously connected, no room for splitting; moreover, without that one collection [included here], the title “Five Houses” would not match. There is also no room to change the original name “five” to “four”. So we have included both — and noted here the reason for the cross-cataloguing.

Reverently submitted, fifth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

Date. The catalog meta gives the collection’s date as 1465 (the year Wén Hóng passed the provincial exam). The latest pieces would be from Wén Zhàozhǐ’s lifetime (active in late-Wàn-lì period — d. probably c. 1620). The compilation itself was assembled in late-Míng or early-Qīng. notBefore: 1465, notAfter: 1574 brackets the active composition window of the four older Wén family members; the compilation date is later (probably mid-to-late Wànlì, or early Qīng).

Significance. (1) The work is a rare extant four-generation single-family poetry anthology — paralleling other Míng family collections like the KR4h0104 Hǎidài huìjí’s Féng family content. (2) The Wén family of Sūzhōu is one of the most famous late-imperial literary-artistic lineages: Wén Zhēngmíng is one of the Wúmén sìjiā 吳門四家 (Sūzhōu painting school’s Four Masters, with Shěn Zhōu 沈周, Táng Yín 唐寅, Qiú Yīng 仇英); his calligraphy and painting set Sūzhōu standards for over a century. (3) The collection documents the literary-artistic dynasty’s development from a mid-rank examination success (Wén Hóng = jǔrén only) to a major cultural family — illuminating Sūzhōu’s distinctive multi-generational artistic transmission pattern (different from northern bureaucratic lineages). (4) The work supplements Wén Zhēngmíng’s own KR4d0612 Fǔtián jí (separately catalogued) — providing the family context.

Translations and research

• Roderick Whitfield et al., Wen Zhengming and the Wu School — Sū-zhōu painting school context.
• Anne de Coursey Clapp, Wen Cheng-ming: The Ming Artist and Antiquity (Ascona, 1975) — monograph on Wén Zhēng-míng.
• Craig Clunas, Elegant Debts: The Social Art of Wen Zhengming, 1470–1559 (London, 2004) — major Western monograph.
• 周道振 Zhōu Dào-zhèn, Wén Zhēng-míng nián-pǔ — chronology.

Other points of interest

The work documents the literary-artistic family transmission pattern that became typical of late-imperial Sūzhōu culture: provincial-degree founder → famous painter-grandson → second-generation painter-officials → third-generation officials. This is the opposite of the early-Míng pattern of central-government literary fame (Sòng Lián, Wáng Wěi, etc.); it represents the Wúzhōng cultural autonomy from court politics that crystallised under HóngzhìZhèngdé and matured under JiājìngWànlì.

Links

• ctext
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4, §32.