Wang Shixiang: I got it, I sent it (excerpt)
Text | Solemnly
Jinghua collects the children of the family
Many collecting anecdotes from Wang Shixiang's youth truly show that he was born in a scholarly family and grew up in the family of an official eunuch in Beijing.
In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shixiang's ancestors moved from Jiangxi to Fujian, and the Wang family was one of the prominent families in Fuzhou. In the Qing Dynasty, his ancestor Wang Qingyun served as the governor of Shaanxi and Jin provinces, the governor of Guangxi and Guangzhou, and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry. His grandfather, Wang Rendong, served as the secretary of the cabinet and the Jiangning Provincial Authority, and later moved his family from Fuzhou to Beijing. Bozu Wang Renkan was the champion of the third year of Guangxu (1877), and was a famous Qing official after being an official, and once dissuaded the Empress Dowager Cixi from repairing the Summer Palace. Liang Qichao is his protégé. His father, Wang Jizeng, graduated from Nanyang College, and began his diplomatic career in France in 1902 with Sun Baoqi, the Chinese minister to France. In 1914, when Wang Shixiang was about to be born, Wang Jizeng bought a courtyard house in Fangjiayuan, Dongcheng, Beijing, with four courtyards before and after. This is the old residence in Beijing where Wang Shixiang has lived for 80 years.
Wang Shixiang loves art and collects, and this gene should be said to come from the bloodline system of his mother, the Jin family. Wang Shixiang's mother's home is in Nanxun, Zhejiang, which is a famous family and a Danqing family. Silk giants, big collectors Pang Laichen and Zhang Heng are all from Nanxun. Wang Shixiang once said: "My mother's family is rich. My grandfather was in Nanxun Town, and it was his father who made a fortune and was engaged in the silk business. My grandfather had never gone abroad, but he had a very Western-style mentality, set up an electric light factory, invested in a Western medicine hospital, and sent several uncles and his mother abroad to study in England, which was still the end of the 19th century. ”
In 1900, the brothers and sisters of the Jin family crossed the sea, which lasted five years. In 1905, they returned to China after completing their studies. Wang Shixiang's uncle Jin Cheng, the North Building, is the leader of the northern painting circle in the early 20th century, founded the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Research Association, the work of landscapes, flowers, good at imitating the ancients, poems are also good, there are "Lotus Lu Poetry Grass" and "North Building Painting Theory". Wang Shixiang's good poems should be said to be related to the tradition of the Jin family. The second uncle, Jin Dongxi, and the fourth uncle, Jin Xixi, are both famous bamboo carvers. Jin Xiyu is the author of "Carving Bamboo Xiaoyan", and Wang Shixiang has helped organize and publish. Mother Jin Zhang, called Tao Tao, the third brother and sister, entered the Shanghai Chinese and Western Girls' School at the age of 14, and then went to England with his brother to study, married Wang Jizeng, and traveled to France with her husband. Jin Zhang is a well-known fish and algae painter, with the volume of "Goldfish Hundred Shadows" handed down, and the author of four volumes of the monograph "Hao Liang Zhi Leji" on painted fish. During the Anti-Japanese War, Wang Shixiang copied the four volumes of "Haoliang Zhile Collection" in Lizhuang, a small town in western Sichuan, under the lamp, and enriched himself with his mother's Yaxing. In his later years, he did not forget to carefully edit and publish a collection of his mother's works. In "Self-cherished Collection of Li Songju Changwu Zhi", I saw his mother's handwritten Xiaokai, with the style of Jin and Tang Dynasty calligraphy, profound skills, and did not let the eyebrows. There is also a shaft of "Goldfish" written by her in Paris, with the inscription: "'Yun Qi Powder Blocks and Shakes the Shadow of the Fish', which is also a sentence of Mr. Jing Yong Xihu." The expatriate in Paris occasionally writes about this meaning, which makes people think of their homeland. In addition, there are also the scrolls of "Lotus Goldfish", "Water Gull", and "Waterside Robin". It seems that she doesn't just draw goldfish, but also paints a wide range of paths.
Jin Medallion in Paris, France, in 1910
In 1920, when Wang Shixiang was 6 years old, his father was appointed to Mexico. Originally, the whole family was going to go with his father, but at this time, the second brother Wang Shirong unfortunately died, and he was suffering from scarlet fever and was recovering from scarlet fever, so it was not suitable to travel far, so his mother had to take him to stay in Shanghai. Four years later, 10-year-old Wang Shixiang returned to his birthplace of Beijing.
In 1924, Wang Shixiang entered an American-run school in Ganmian Hutong, Beijing. Wang Shixiang has a self-description:
My father was stationed in Mexico for two years, and after returning to China, he was given the title of "Minister on Standby" and could be sent at any time. Thinking that he was going to take us abroad, he sent me to a foreign school in Ganmian Hutong. It was an expatriate school. In this way, I learned English from elementary school, I spoke it fluently, and I had no problem speaking in English, and others thought I grew up in a foreign country. His father later served as the secretary general of the State Council when Sun Baoqi was in power in the Beiyang government, and did not go abroad again.
My father didn't let me enter the field, thinking that it was boring and that it would be better to learn a skill. He asked me to study medicine. I played it all from elementary school to college. Since elementary school, I speak English fluently, but I can't write well, and I don't read many famous books, which is worse than that of students who specialize in English, so I don't need to work hard. But every day when I came home from school, my family invited me to the best ancient Chinese teacher to learn what scriptures, history, primary school, and phonology, but I couldn't learn it, I only liked ancient poetry, and I didn't even study history well.
The word "play" describes Wang Shixiang's life as a "Yanshi boy". He said to himself: "Since I was a child, from elementary school to university, I have always been a plaything, and my career is ridiculous. Crickets in autumn, singing insects in winter, eagles chasing rabbits, dogs and badgers, all have fun. Of course, he said this with an element of self-humility, but it also revealed some truth.
Wang Shixiang photographed in 1936 in Wangjiayuanzi, near Yenching University
Looking back on Wang Shixiang's journey of growing up as a scholar and collector, I feel fortunate that he did not sit and read the subset of the scriptures and histories, but "played". I think "playing" is exactly Mr. Wang Shixiang's way of studying. From the perspective of a scholar, the things that are played, no matter what you play, can be drilled into, explore the origin, generate new ideas, and form a special kind of unique learning, so as to become a general scholar, forming a unique collection. Reading Mr. Wang Shixiang's "Brocade Ash Heap", we can see that his "play" is the rescue of traditional and folk culture, otherwise, many studies will really be extinct. With his book in place, I don't need to repeat it, but I will record a few of his own accounts to guide us into the inner world of a collector.
Dog badger: When I was seventeen or eighteen years old, I learned wrestling, and I was taught by the first class Bukurui and Wu Ergon. Influenced by them, he began to walk badger dogs, set up eagles, and got to know many dog owners. In order to learn how to be a dog, please dictate to Rong San and re-record the "Dog Badger Spectrum". Later, he asked several others to recite and wrote down what Rong San dictated and what was not in the words. Together, tidy up a little on the segments. After recording, I am also catchy and can memorize a few paragraphs.
Since then, "badger dogs have a pedigree from ancient times, how to choose to listen to me" has been handed down. Whether from the point of view of knowledge, literature or folklore, it is very interesting.
I remember that around 1932, when I was studying at the American Overseas Chinese School, the principal invited an American bird expert to give a lecture entitled "Birds of North China", which talked about the big eagle. After speaking, I asked: What should an eagle do if it eats its indigestible hair? Why does the eagle want it to eat something that it can't digest in place of its hair? He was dumbfounded because he had never heard of it.
Wang Shixiang wrote the "Big Eagle Chapter" because of the eagle, talking about the big eagle he had domesticated himself, which was divided into five sections: eagle hunting, eagle watching, falconry, eagle release, and cage eagle, and also answered questions that American ornithologists could not answer. After the eagle catches the prey, the hairs and bones swallow together, but the feathers cannot be decomposed and absorbed, nor can they be excreted, and they can only be spit out in a tight ball in the intestines and intestines. Eating and spitting shafts is indispensable for the eagle's instinctive, natural digestion process.
Raising crickets: Among my fathers, I like Uncle Zhao the most. Because he loves crickets and is happy to teach me how to distinguish good from bad. Whenever my parents blame me for raising crickets, I will say, "Even Uncle Zhao raises them", as if there is a good reason. He would also intercede for me and tell me some crooked reasons for raising crickets. He was the one who led me through the door. Aunt Zhao is a good friend of my mother, and she also likes me, and when she sees me going, she always gives me something to eat. To this day, I still remember what she said to Uncle Zhao: "If I want to die, I will die in the autumn, and there will be crickets at that time, so you won't be too sad." ”
Zhao Liqing, a native of Wujin, has lived in Beijing for a long time, served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the Beiyang government, and was an old colleague of Wang Shixiang's father. The upper bureau reported the word "Li", and all the people who sold crickets called him "Zhao Lizi".
Another friend of Wang Shixiang, Li Fengshan, the word Tonghua, signed up for the word "mountain" in the Cricket Bureau. The ophthalmology of traditional Chinese medicine is known for its use of golden needles to treat trachoma and cataracts, and is famous for its "golden needle plum". Wang Shixiang said:
(Li) Tonghua has no other good in his life, only loves crickets into the bone marrow. More than eighty years old, holding pots and jars, still happy like a child, this is also the way of his health, to enjoy the New Year. At that time, the warlord sought a famous doctor, and often welcomed Tonghua to other provinces, and in the first issue of March, he gave 3,000 yuan in silver. In the autumn, Tonghua will thank but give a bonus, and resign to raise crickets.
In 1955, Mr. (Guan Pinghu) worked at the Chinese Music Research Institute, listening to "Guangling San" every night. Yu Yu Gray Yu got "big grass white", and he made a sound in his arms, and even said, "Good! good!" and stroked a few pianos and said: "Listen, good crickets taste the same as the sound of a string of Tang Qin." "Mr. Shi has not been accumulating insects for many years and has not forgotten his feelings, there are good ones!
There are also the knowledge of raising pigeons, making pigeon whistles, planting gourds, and branding gourds, all of which he obtained from books, but from playing. Writing this, I suddenly remembered the story of the bhikshuni who asked the Sixth Patriarch Huineng. A bhikshuni who read the Nirvana Sutra and did not understand a lot of things, asked the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, first asked questions about the text, and Huineng replied, "I am illiterate, but we can discuss the meaning behind the words." The bhikshuni was puzzled: "Since you can't read, how can you understand?" Hui Neng smiled: "The Buddhas are wonderful, not about words. The implication is that there are many ways to obtain information about the same thing, so why stick to books, it depends on your own experience. Wang Shixiang's governance of the above learnings is like Hui Neng, finding another way, playing and being wise, this may be a little Zen machine in his chest.
The death of his mother sparked the study of painting theory
From Mr. Wang Shixiang's experience, I feel that he is most interested in calligraphy and painting. When he was still in college, he began to study Chinese painting theory. At that time, Yenching University did not have a department of fine arts, and doing such a topic in the Faculty of Arts was considered interdisciplinary. Many of his interests in life began with painting, from the Southern and Northern Dynasties painter Zong Bing's "Painting Landscape Preface" to explore the relationship between the origin of bonsai and painting, and the Song dynasty Zhao Zihou's "Flowers and Birds and Beasts" depicted in detail the picture of rabbits rising and falling, which made him further appreciate the excitement of eagle raising. He not only sketched the origin of Ming Dynasty furniture from his paintings, but also studied the importance of literati participation in the promotion of furniture and utensils.
Wang Shixiang's interest in painting also happened by chance, after the death of his mother. He recalled:
The death of my mother in 1939 hit me hard, and I felt that my family valued my studies so much, and I was ashamed of them. So I started to study "Theory of Painting". Yenching University does not have an art department, so what I did in the Faculty of Arts was an interdisciplinary project, and the school agreed, and I got a master's degree in the third year. I didn't start studying until I entered graduate school.
"Theory of Painting" is one of the most difficult topics to write in my life, involving many disciplines such as philosophy, history, and art. When I graduated from graduate school, I only wrote about the Song Dynasty, but after I left school, my father encouraged me to finish it. In 1941 and 1942, I relied on my father to support me to finish writing, but I always felt dissatisfied and too naïve. I've been trying to revise it, but I haven't been able to do it. Later, he was afraid of being called idealistic, so he has not published it yet.
After the completion of "Research on the Theory of Chinese Painting", his father said to him: "You have reached the age of self-reliance, and Beiping has fallen, so naturally you can't stay any longer." He then "resigned and went to Xishu" and went to the rear of the Southwest University.
After Wang Shixiang was determined to study hard, his first academic masterpiece, "Research on Chinese Painting Theory", which he completed in 1943, was not finalized
In November 1943, Wang Shixiang left Beiping, "after a month or two of travel, I found a branch of Yenching University in Chengdu, and the president Mei Yiqi kept me as an assistant teacher of Chinese literature, but I was unwilling." He went to the office of the Palace Museum in Haitangxi, Chongqing, on the south bank of Chongqing, to apply for a job with the director Ma Heng, who only gave him a secretary position, and he did not want to sit in the office to socialize, so he went to the Institute of Linguistics of the Academia Sinica, where he was introduced by Liang Sicheng and met with the director Fu Sinian. Fu Sinian said: "People who came out of Yenching University are not worthy of entering our Institute of History and Language. Fu Sinian's basin of cold water frustrated Wang Shixiang's hope for knowledge. Liang Sicheng said to Wang Shixiang: "Your wish is to engage in art history, if you are interested in ancient architecture, you can go to the China Construction Institute as an assistant researcher." In the face of Fu Sinian's cold reception, Wang Shixiang gladly accepted Liang Sicheng's arrangement and entered the Construction Society. From here, Wang Shixiang met Zhu Qichao, the founder of the Construction Society, and the two became friends for the rest of the year. Wang Shixiang began to learn English when he was in elementary school, and this is when he came in handy when he translated an article written by Fei Weimei, Fairbank's wife, about the Wuliang Temple in Shandong, and published it in the Journal of Chinese Construction Society.
In 1944, when the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was imminent, the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government set up a special committee in Chongqing to clean up the loss of wartime cultural relics, referred to as the "Clearance Committee", with Hang Liwu, vice minister of the Ministry of Education, as the chairman. Shen Jishi served as the representative of Beijing-Tianjin District, and Xu Senyu served as the representative of Shanghai-Nanjing District. Recommended by Liang Sicheng, Wang Shixiang participated in the "damage clearance" work in Pingjin District as a deputy representative.
From November 1945 to June 1946, Wang Shixiang cleaned up the following cultural relics in the Pingjin area: 1. Confiscation of 240 pieces of bronze artifacts of the German Yang Ningshi; 2. Acquisition of 2,300 pieces of porcelain from Guo Baochang's collection of Jiazhai; 3. Recovery of a batch of Song and Yuan Dynasty porcelain illegally accepted by the Japanese by the US Second Lieutenant Texig Jiading; 4. Rescue 200 pieces of Cunsutang silk embroidery hidden in Changchun that were threatened by war; 5. Receive 1,800 pieces of precious cultural relics left by Pu Yi in the safe of Zhangyuan in Tianjin; 6. Recovered a batch of cultural relics handed over by the customs to Dove & Co.
In the autumn of 1946, Wang Shixiang's search for national treasures in the Beijing-Tianjin area came to an end, and another important mission fell on his shoulders. This is to negotiate compensation for cultural relics with Japan. Wang Shixiang's mission to Japan can be summarized in three ways: 1. To bring back from Tokyo a batch of rare books from the Central Library that had been looted by the Japanese invading forces when they invaded Hong Kong at the end of 1941; 2. To trace to Japan the whereabouts of public and private cultural relics lost in various parts of China during the war; and 3) to make further negotiations with Japan in order to achieve the goal of "compensation by kind." In mid-December 1946, he flew to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. At that time, the head of the Chinese delegation to Japan was Zhu Shiming, the fourth group leader was Zhang Fengju, and Wu Wenzao, Xie Bingxin, Xu Dunzhang, and Wu Bannong were also present in the delegation. They carried out two months of cleaning up artifacts in Japan. After a visit by the Chinese delegation to Japan, Gu Yuxiu discovered the whereabouts of the books in the Central Library, and then transferred them to Ueno Park in Tokyo and the residence of the Chinese delegation in Japan. Wang Shixiang took advantage of the special plane of the Central Airlines to return to China and transport the robbed rare books back to Shanghai. On February 10, 1947, Zheng Zhenduo wrote in his diary: "I talked to Sen Lao (Xu Senyu) on the phone, and I was very happy to know that one hundred and seven boxes of books shipped back from Japan had arrived!" On February 11, he wrote: "Meet Sen Lao and Shixiang. This shows that the society is concerned about Wang Shixiang's trip to Japan to ask for books.
In March 1947, Wang Shixiang returned to Beijing from Japan to participate in the preservation and display of cultural relics in the Forbidden City. As a junior, Wang Shixiang came to visit Zhang Boju and explained his intentions, and Zhang Boju readily agreed. In this regard, Wang Shixiang wrote an article "'Pingfu Post' was in my house - remembering Mr. Boju", cloud:
I met Mr. Boju quite late, and in the autumn of 1945, I came to Beijing from Chongqing to clean up the loss of wartime cultural relics. Xuan Yin often got together with Zai Run, Pu Xuezhai, and Yu Jiaxi at Boju's house, and soon became acquainted. When I was working at the Palace Museum in 1947, I wanted to do some work in the bibliographic of paintings and calligraphy. In addition to the photographs to make up for the lack of predecessors, an attempt was made to evaluate the texture, size, mounting, introduction, inscription, text, style, seal, inscription, collection seal, predecessor's description, relevant literature, etc., and to record their preservation and examination of their circulation, in order to obtain a more complete record. The above idea was taught to Mr. Yu Boju and won his approval. And said: "It's too troublesome for you to come to my house again and again to watch "Pingfu Post", you might as well take it back and read it carefully." ”
Wang Shixiang also described in detail the scene and mood when reading the post, and he continued:
After arriving home, I vacated a small camphor wood box, put it at the head of the bed, laid it flat with white cotton paper, and then wrapped the "Pingfu Post" with Korean paper and put it in the box. Every time I have to go out, I have to open the lock and unpack it when I come back, and I can rest assured that it is safe and sound. When watching, wait until the weather is clear, move the table to a place close to the south window, where the light is good and there is no sunlight, lay out white felt and Korean paper, wash your hands, put on white gloves, and then calmly open the hand scroll. There is a separate case next to the table, on which paper is placed and a pencil is used to make notes. ...... "Pingfu Post" was put in my house for more than a month before I respectfully returned it to Mr. Boju. Later, according to the bibliographies, he was able to complete the article "Western Jin Dynasty Lu Ji Ping Fu Ti Circulation Strategy".
At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, when I visited Mr. Zhang Boju and was about to ask him to write about the collection of "Pingfu Post", he mentioned Wang Shixiang and said: "There are two little geniuses in the capital, and Wang Shixiang is one. "At that time, I didn't have the opportunity to visit Mr. Wang Shixiang, and he didn't have a reputation for collecting Ming-style furniture, so I don't know who he was.
Ming-style relics, books become dreams
On his own collection, Wang Shixiang commented: "I don't have a collection of paintings and calligraphy, no collection of porcelain, no collection of jade, and no collection of bronzes. In the eyes of collectors, it is nothing more than a broomstick, but I cherish it. ”
"People abandon me and take it" is indeed Wang Shixiang's way of collecting, but to say "insignificant" is to be humble. He made great contributions to the collection and protection of furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Wang Shixiang wrote an article entitled "A Call for the Rescue of Ancient Furniture", which was published in the "Cultural Relics Reference" in June 1957. On June 10, 1957, the People's Daily published "Why is this?" and fired the "first shot of the rightists' counterattack." Wang Shixiang's article is the first shot to protect the furniture of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and its main purpose is to protect the furniture culture. The article says: "If we pay attention to new furniture, we cannot ignore ancient furniture, because this is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors and our cultural heritage." ”
Wang Shixiang was heartbroken by the destruction of ancient furniture and complained about the bad luck of ancient furniture. He said: "We need to know that ancient Chinese wood is finite, and it cannot be dismantled or destroyed forever. In recent decades, it has been devastated enough, and if it continues like this, it will be extinct. Can we turn a blind eye to this irrational phenomenon and tolerate it to continue?"
Wang Shixiang's spirit of taking the world as his own responsibility shows his demeanor as an intellectual with a social conscience, but as everyone knows, this is precisely a crime added to his "rightist" hat.
Wang Shixiang, who was branded as a "rightist", was silent, but he took more practical actions to protect ancient furniture. He often rode a broken car, knocked on the door of his hometown, visited the ghost market stalls, and spared no effort to find ancient furniture. Once, he saw a five-legged incense table of iron wood in Cao Shutian, an antique shop in Di'anmen, with a single wooden surface, particularly thick and rare, and he wanted to buy it several times but did not get it, and he ran into it again, and the price was not high, so he bought it. He carried the incense table onto the tricycle, held the teeth with both hands, and put his feet under the mud, and transported it home.
In the collection of Ming and Qing dynasty furniture in the capital, Wang Shixiang has a partner, he is Chen Mengjia of the Institute of Archaeology. Wang Shixiang thinks that Chen Mengjia's collection is better than his things, and there are 38 color pictures in his book "Appreciation of Ming-style Furniture", which is Chen Mengjia's old collection.
When Wang Shixiang and Chen Mengjia were playing with Ming and Qing furniture, it was like two children playing a game. Once, Wang Shixiang bought a pair of ironwood official hat chairs at a low price, and Chen Mengjia was very happy and said, "You are simply a free choice, you should give it to me." As he spoke, he picked up a handful and took it away. Wang Shixiang said: "I can't give it to you for free." "Snatched it back. Chen Mengjia bought a five-legged round incense table of bright yellow pear, and Wang Shixiang loved it very much, so he said: "How much money do you buy, add ten times and give it to me." "I picked it up and wanted to get out of the door. Chen Mengjia said: "It's not okay to add a hundred times!" was stopped by Chen Mengjia. He sometimes deliberately teased Chen Mengjia, saying that his furniture was broken and he was deceived, which made Chen Mengjia very anxious. A piece of Huanghuali hollow back frame is the pride of Chen Mengjia, he said that it is "smashing goods", and the back is supplemented by people. A huanghuali horse-pattern open-carved backrest chair, Chen Mengjia believes that the world's first carving. Wang Shixiang pointed out that it was made of a large stool and a mirror frame, which was conclusive, and really made Chen Mengjia anxious. Afterwards, he "confessed" to Chen Mengjia, saying that he was talking nonsense, "just trying to tease you". Wang Shixiang also admitted: "Dreamers cherish furniture more than me. In my house, the furniture is piled up in a mess, and people can move and sit as they like. The dreamer is very serious, and he is not allowed to touch or sit on the red head rope in front of the chair, and I once laughed at him for being 'more museum than a museum'. "Indeed, as Wang Shixiang said, when I went to visit Zhao Luorui, Mr. Mengjia had passed away for many years, and Mr. Luorui still kept Mr. Chen's will, and there was a red head rope in front of the chair. Chen Mengjia's collection of furniture belongs to the appreciation of scholars, and Wang Shixiang has entered research from appreciation. His research does not stop at the evolution of furniture genres, but also disassembles and assembles, and delves into the internal structure, materials and production methods of furniture.
When I visited Mr. Luo Rui, she told me that she planned to donate the furniture to the Shanghai Museum, and expressed this to Director Ma Chengyuan, asking me to bring a letter to Mr. Ma and ask the museum to send someone to contact her. She told me that Mr. Shixiang had a similar meaning. At that time, I didn't know Mr. Wang Shixiang.
On Chinese New Year's Eve in 1984, Yuan Quanyou's sketch "Shixiang Listening to Autumn Pictures"
Later, I learned that Ma Chengyuan and Wang Qingzheng, the two directors of the Shanghai Museum, asked Zhang Deqin, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, to say that the Shanghai Museum would give Wang Shixiang a birthday gift of 1 million yuan in the name of celebrating his 80th birthday, and let Wang Shixiang donate furniture to the Shanghai Museum. But Wang Shixiang had no intention of donating, and the Shanghai Museum wanted to spend money to buy it, but 1 million yuan was too little to negotiate. When I visited Mr. Wang Shixiang, he also mentioned this incident. He said: "At first, Director Zhang Deqin persuaded me to donate, and I asked me how much money I could give me for donation? Zhang Deqin said that he would give you a maximum of 1 million. "Later, I learned from Wu Zijian, a well-known Indian at sea, that Mr. Shixiang told him that it was best to use foreign methods, and it would be best for someone to buy his furniture and donate it to the Shanghai Museum. As the director of the Cultural Heritage Bureau, Zhang Deqin does not advocate the donation of furniture to the Forbidden City. Because there is too much furniture in the Forbidden City, it will not have an impact on the Forbidden City.
Wu Zijian asked, "How much are you going to ask?"
Wang Shixiang said: "According to international prices, the best piece of furniture in my collection is worth 5 million US dollars, and I can only pay one-tenth of the price now." However, there is a condition, the buyer must donate to the museum, and the donation must be centralized and not dispersed. ”
Wu Zijian did treat this matter cautiously. At first, he found a man surnamed Fu in Singapore and persuaded him to buy and donate to the Shanghai Museum, but it didn't work out. He also found Zhuang Guilun, chairman of Hong Kong Fumao Co., Ltd. The Zhuang family bought 79 pieces of Ming and Qing dynasty furniture from Wang Shixiang for $500,000 and donated them to the Shanghai Museum in the name of the Zhuang family.
Talking about these past events, Mr. Wang Shixiang said to me: "At that time, there was a condition that none of the 80 pieces of furniture in the catalogue should be donated. There was only one chair in the catalogue, and I gave it up along with the other three chairs that were not included in the catalogue. There is a small Mazar in the catalogue, which has been given to an old friend, who saw that I had transferred the furniture, and felt that the Maza was too lonely, and returned Maza. I still gave it to the Shanghai Museum. Therefore, there are 79 pieces in the catalogue donated by Zhuang to the Shanghai Museum, and Xiao Mazha is not among them. Speaking of these, Mr. Wang Shixiang said humorously: "There is no place for those four chairs in my house, and now I can stretch my waist." Although Zhang Deqin stepped down from the post of director of the Cultural Relics Bureau, he still cares about Wang Shixiang. He said: "Mr. Shixiang's house in Fangjiayuan has been inhabited by many families, and many small houses have been built in the yard, and the two old people have been squeezed into three north houses, and the sunlight in the houses is also blocked by those small houses. Yuan Quanyou baked cakes and rolled noodles on the big case in the Ming Dynasty, and he needed money to buy a house, which is understandable. A person who has been put into a separate book and has lived under the supervision of everyone for decades, even if he has an endless attachment to the old house, still cannot live in it, not to mention that many treasures have no place to stay. ”
Wang Shixiang and Yuan Quanyou in 2002
Wang Shixiang told me: "The money from the sale of furniture bought the house of Fangcaodi. "The Ming and Qing dynasty furniture in the house is gone, only the big rosewood case is still there, glowing faintly in the dusk.
Ming-style furniture "sixteen products" and "eight diseases" proposed
Wang Shixiang can be said to be a complete body of writings, and here I would like to introduce his two classics - "Ming Style Furniture Appreciation" and "Ming Style Furniture Research".
The compilation and printing of Ming style furniture catalogues in modern times began with foreigners, through them, the beauty of Ming style furniture is famous all over the world, and its advocacy and dissemination are indispensable. However, the emergence and development of Ming-style furniture is inherited from the tradition under the specific historical conditions of China, and is influenced by the living customs, artistic fashions and aesthetic views of the time. Those works are mainly appreciated and studied from the perspective of formal beauty and its similarity with some modern art styles, which is always separated by a layer, which cannot but be said to be a kind of shortcoming. On the basis of his profound history, philology, art history and folklore, Wang Shixiang has comprehensively studied ancient furniture, which has not only made up for these shortcomings, but also opened up a new academic field.
Commenting on these two works by Wang Shixiang, Fu Xinian said that "Appreciation of Ming-style Furniture" is a large-scale catalogue of ancient Chinese furniture from the Ming to the early Qing Dynasty. The book selects more than 160 pieces of domestic public and private collections, the selection of examples is exquisite, the words are simple to understand, which can not only enable the general reader to be pleasing to the eye at the same time, get a comprehensive and image knowledge of Ming-style furniture, many excellent insights and technical points in the book, but also enough for in-depth research of Jinliang and the guide to design and production. Looking at the whole book, we can see two intentions of the author. One is the combination of different styles, both simple and sophisticated, as well as decorated, not without delicate, but to a certain extent reflect the characteristics of the time. The second is to raise and low in the material, there are not only such unparalleled "heavy weapons" such as the Song Ju red sandalwood painting case and the Huanghuali Moon Cave door shelf bed, but also the simple and concise ordinary beech folk furniture from the Taihu Lake Water Town. Therefore, this book is different from previous works in that it is a systematic, scientific and appreciative academic work that is not influenced by personal preferences and current fashions, and tries to reflect the whole picture and development process of furniture in this period historically and comprehensively.
In the preface and illustrated explanations, Wang Shixiang put forward many outstanding insights based on his years of research experience, such as: citing literature, showing that in the late Ming Dynasty, due to economic development, social atmosphere changes, there was a trend of emphasizing furniture furnishings, and the relatively relaxed sea ban at that time was conducive to the import of a large number of precious wood, and made a credible analysis of the specific reasons why hardwood furniture was prevalent in this period and developed to the peak; Since the Ming Dynasty, there are actually two types of furniture that originate from the door bed, Sumeru seat with waist furniture and from the architectural framework without waist furniture, find out the law of the relationship between furniture structure and modeling; in terms of production technology, decoration techniques, the mortise and tenon and the line feet have also been deeply discussed, the book has collected as many as 72 kinds of line feet, enough to look at the atmosphere of a generation; finally, also from the interior decoration, From the perspective of furnishings, the characteristics of the furniture layout of the Ming Dynasty are introduced, and according to his years of research experience, it is proposed that the furniture layout of the Ming Dynasty is sparse and suitable for multi-angle appreciation, while the Qing Dynasty is biased towards dense differences, and the same type of furniture should be used as much as possible to facilitate harmony and consistency.
"Ming style furniture research" is a research monograph, the whole book of 250,000 words, more than 700 pictures, with 1,000 terms and terms concise explanations, according to the real thing, combined with the literature, the Ming style furniture of the era background, region, type of form, structure, decoration, materials, age identification of the aspects of in-depth analysis. What is particularly rare is that the furniture collected by the author in the book is accurately measured by his wife Yuan Quanyou on its combination and mortise and tenon joints, and painted into exquisite drawings, graphic and text comparison, which greatly enhances the scientific and practical nature of the book. Attached to the back of the book is the article "The "Quality" and "Disease" of Ming-style Furniture", which summarizes the advantages of Ming-style furniture as "Sixteen Products" and the shortcomings as "Eight Diseases" from the perspective of appreciation, and incisively points out the differences between elegance and vulgarity, which helps readers to deeply understand and appreciate the beauty of Ming-style furniture, so as to correctly use the technical information provided in the book.
Collect your own treasures, not possess things
If the original collection of furniture is put into the current auction market, it will be so popular. But Wang Shixiang didn't think like this, he just said lightly, this time, that time. At this time, he took out a mimeographed copy of "Commentary on the Ornament Record", and said very humorously: "This book can be auctioned, and now it can be auctioned for more than 1,000 yuan." He turned the conversation to the publishing process of the book.
The "Records of the Ornaments" is nothing more than "a record of lacquer workers and lacquerware". The author of this book is Huang Cheng of the Ming Dynasty, and it is the only ancient lacquerware monograph in mainland China that has been annotated by Yang Ming, but only one manuscript has been preserved in Japan for three or four hundred years. In 1927, Mr. Zhu Qichuan published and engraved it into the world, calling it "Ding Mao Year Engraving". In the winter of 1949, Zhu Qichao asked Wang Shixiang to annotate the book, so that it could bring forth the new and serve the society. From then on, Wang Shixiang began to annotate. He was dismissed because he was a "big tiger" at the time of the "three antis", and he found his own way out, and lost the opportunity to observe and study lacquerware. He dragged his body suffering from lung disease to collectors, antique shops, hanging shops, Xiaoshi, and cold stalls to find real objects, and did not let go of the research of "Hair Ornament Record", and completed "Explanation of Hair Ornament Record" in 1958.
Because of his "wearing a hat", he had no choice but to use the pseudonym Wang Chang'an, send the manuscript to the Transcription Society, and engrave the wax mimeograph at his own expense. However, at that time, he had to be sent to his unit for review, and the middle-level cadres in the institute thought that he was a "rightist poisoner" and was ready to criticize him, but the director Li Yuanqing thought that the "Commentary on the Decoration Record" was a useful work and agreed to the Transcription Society to mimeograph him. At that time, 200 mimeographs were donated to museums, libraries, lacquerware factories and friends. In 1961, Guo Moruo saw this book and recommended it to Science Press, but gave up because the author was a "rightist". After the reform and opening up, the book went through several setbacks and was published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House in 1983. There is a passage in "The Song of the Big Tree" that talks about the process of his annotation of the "Commentary on the Ornament Record", and the poem says:
The Gong Gong gave the lacquer scripture, and the note "Ornament Record". The two episodes are divided into two episodes, and the words are read back and forth. For the sake of the system and the name, the ancient artifacts are widely sought. For the sake of craftsmanship and art, ask for a teacher to show the operation. From the ashes to the sprinkling of gold leaf. The color is trapped in Danqing, and the rhino skin is mottled. More use of the knife, layered vermilion. The first draft has been completed in ten years, and the public life is fortunately not disgraced!
At this time, he was working on a new edition, which was not published until 2004. The new edition of the "Hair Ornament Record" combines the collection of the Japanese Pujiatang and the Zhu's Ding Mao yearbook into one volume, and the title page is still inscribed by Zhu Qichao. On the title page, Wang Shixiang wrote the inscription "I respectfully seal two copies of Pujia Ding Mao to commemorate Mr. Zhu Guixin", which is not signed. At the back of the volume, there is a postscript written by Suo Yuming, commenting on the importance of the "Hair Decoration Record" and praising Huang and Yang for their special contributions to the teaching of lacquer craftsmanship. The Japanese Pujiatang collection was copied from Japan by Suo Yuming through the help of Li Lincan, deputy director of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Judging from the publication of "Hair Ornament Record", Mr. Shixiang's cherishing of friendship is touching. From this, I think of the "Self-Treasured Collection" mentioned above. Mr. Wang Shixiang can be said to be a complete body of books, many of which can be described as pioneering works, but can show the character of a collector, I think the first recommendation is "Self-Treasured Collection".
The full name of this collection is "Li Songju Long Thing Zhi Self-Treasured Collection". Wen Zhenheng, the great-grandson of the Ming Dynasty, wrote 12 volumes of "The Chronicles of Long Things", which is divided into: "Volume 1 Room Lu, Volume 2 Flowers and Trees, Volume 3 Water Stones, Volume 4 Birds and Fish, Volume 5 Calligraphy and Painting, Volume 6 Several Beds, Volume 7 Miscellaneous Items, Volume 8 Position, Volume 9 Clothing, Volume 10 Boats and Cars, Volume 11 Vegetables and Fruits, Volume 12 Spice Tea, etc. These contents are generally as commented by the editors of the "Siku Quanshu", and they are indeed "all things that are suitable for leisure games, and they are delicate and complete". This is always an integral part of the personal life environment, but it is not a practical thing in life, not in the scope of daily life, so in the name of "long things", Mr. Wang Shixiang's "Li Songju Long Things" also has this meaning, showing his collection realm. Mr. Wang Shixiang wrote in the "Self-Introduction": "When I returned from the United States in 1948, I was regarded as a broom for 30 years. As for the 'three antis' unjust prison, the Forbidden City was removed from the list, and the five or seven buttoned hats were not only inferior to the broom, but also directly abandoned the same party. Those who suffer extreme injustice may commit suicide and take risks, and the crime of 'self-isolation from the people' is absolutely unacceptable. Tsuen You and I have been in love with each other and have decided to stick to our own cherishment. Those who cherish themselves are more strict with themselves, behave in a proper manner, and be upright, but although they can be good alone, they will not help the world, and they will eventually spend this life in vain. Therefore, we should be calm, not arrogant or humble, and make an objective analysis of ourselves, in order to find out what kind of work is beneficial to the country and the people and can still be competent, and go all out to achieve the goal of proper completion with ten times the hard work and hard work. ”
The preface concludes: "Since last year, I have compiled and recovered the long things outside the body, and I can't help but feel more moved when I compile this collection. Among them, some have been used to illustrate the production of traditional crafts, some have been used to identify the names of cultural relics, some have sat on the piano case, caressing them to appreciate its wonderful sound, and some have occasionally played with a moment of entertainment. Gai is a self-disciplined person who has been with me for many years. And because he witnessed the catastrophe and went away, he was calm at that time, and he did not feel moved. However, the epiphany of the value of life is not in possession of things, but in observation and appreciation, discovery, and understanding, so that the ascension becomes knowledge, which is conducive to cultural research and development. Wouldn't this be someone who has been cherishing himself and diligently seeking it for many years. ”
Mr. Wang Shixiang's confession can be described as a combination of things and things, and character and objects are integrated.
Before the auction, Guardian Company held a special exhibition for these collections, and Mr. Wang Shixiang did not attend the opening of the exhibition, but wrote a thank you draft, which was written very plainly, and it made people think about it when you read it.
The artifacts on display here can be found in the humble work "Self-Treasured Collection". The episode has a subtitle -
"Li Songju Long Things". The first three words are the names of my wife Yuan Quanyou and me, and the last three words are just some long things outside the body. A long object may be precious, or it may be a broken broom, and my long object is close to the latter. I've never recognized myself as a collector. Money is very important for the collection of cultural relics. My family background and personal experience mean that I simply do not have what it takes to be a collector.
Although I used to only buy some long-term things that people gave up for me, for decades I have made my wife celebrate the Chinese New Year's Eve every day, and my wife is always reluctant to buy new ones when her clothes are worn out. Eating is also very simple, I don't go to a restaurant, but sometimes I leave friends for a light meal. Fortunately, I can cook, and I can eat well without spending much money, and it tastes better than I eat now. Now it's not good to eat if you spend more money, and the raw materials have changed, and I won't do it. Sorry, I digressed.
Some of the long objects on display may have research value, some may have appreciation value, but they may not have economic value. It is really not worth seeing, but the fact that you have come shows that you can afford me, and I am really very honored, and at the same time I feel very ashamed, so I have to thank you.
In just a few hundred words, Mr. Wang Shixiang's attitude towards life and the values of collecting are all in it, not only for the new generation of collectors, but even for ordinary people, it is also worth savoring.
Tang "Great Sage Relic Voice" Fuxi Style Qin (Wang Shixiang Zeng Collection)
In the auction of Wang Shixiang's collection, none of them were unsold, and the transaction price was more than ten times higher than the reserve price, and the new collectors were not so much admiring his collection as they were admiring Mr. Wang Shixiang's character. It can also be said that such an auction phenomenon shows the strength of Mr. Wang Shixiang's personality. When I interviewed, a few days after the auction, Wang Yannan, general manager of Guardian Auction Company, was still excited, she said: "The auction site is hot, and the price is so high that I am still a little frightened. At first, I didn't understand what was going on, and some participants took the second piece if they couldn't get the first shot, and then they shot the third piece if they couldn't get it...... I wasn't willing until I got one. A bamboo-carved frog is normally only more than 10,000 yuan, but in the end it was more than 100,000 yuan, and they were completely raised by Wang Lao's personality and learning. ”
Speaking of this auction, Zhang Deqin is still excited, he analyzed the auction phenomenon and said:
"Mr. Wang Shixiang's life has been bumpy and has never been fully displayed. This auction is a great display of his life, showing his mastery, showing his elegance and pleasure, showing his personality charm, and showing his genius and wisdom. What buyers are looking for is not simply cultural relics, but love. If Li Bai is unwilling to be the marquis of ten thousand households, but hopes to know Han Jingzhou, it can be said that it is a pity to have thousands of gold, and he is willing to get a plaything in the world, how enviable it is!"
*The article is excerpted from "Jinghua Collectors" (Zheng Zheng, Joint Publishing Co., Ltd., 2024-1)