Head
One
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, it became a generation of customs for literati to collect and appreciate paintings. How to enhance the knowledge of appreciation and collection? To provide a knowledge reference for discerning the authenticity of paintings? As a result, some books of appreciation and playing with painting have appeared, such as the Northern Song Dynasty's "History of Painting", the Southern Song Dynasty Zhao Xihu's "Dongtian Qinglu Collection and Ancient Painting Discernment" and so on.
In the era of lack of physical image comparison, the visual experience of Yihui is truly textualized, and the background of systematic painting history knowledge is provided, among which the most influential painting appreciation guide is the "Treasure Book of Picture Painting" compiled by Xia Wenyan in the Yuan Dynasty.
Yuan Xia Wenyan's "Illustrated Treasure Book" (Republic of China Luo Zhenyujing Yin Yuan Dynasty to the main edition)
Two
The author of the Yuan Dynasty "Tu Tu Bao Zhen" Xia Wenyan, zi Shiliang, lan zhusheng. His ancestral home was Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang). Xia Wenyan's great-grandfather, a generation, has moved to Huating County, Songjiang Province.
Xia Wenyan's great-grandfather, Xia Chun, often performed good deeds and won the hearts of the people. The Government of the Yuan Dynasty "officially referred to its eldest son, but showed its protégé as a righteous soldier and honored its family." Xia Wenyan's father, Xia Mao, was a "virgin" who was not an official, loved antiques, calligraphy and painting, and once built a "love leisure hall" to specialize in collecting.
Xia Wenyan was influenced by his father, loved antiques and calligraphy and painting, rich collection, Xia Wenyan's collection is not only more, but also has the works of previous generations of famous artists, he because of the collection of Song Dynasty Wentong's ink bamboo, named its hospitality place "Wenzhu Xuan". The rich collection makes Xia Wenyan "play with the rope day and night, and understand the spirit of the heart". Xia Wenyan himself could also paint, and the famous scholar Tao Zongyi of the same era also wrote poems for his paintings. Xia Wenyan's cultivation in collection and painting laid a good foundation for him to compile the Illustrated Treasure Book.
Three
The purpose of compiling the Illustrated Treasure Book, as its title, is to provide people with access to and appreciation of paintings. The whole book is compiled around this purpose, and the first volume of the book is a compilation of the predecessors on "on painting" and "appreciation"; the remaining volumes are biographies of famous people who have been good at painting in the past, and under the personal name entries, they record the character number, place of origin, official position, teacher inheritance and style characteristics of painting.
Xia Wenyan of the Yuan Dynasty," a collection of five volumes, the first volume is mainly a theoretical part, compiling classical theories of ancient painting appreciation. Volumes 2 to 5 are biographies of painters from the time of ancient history and legend to the Yuan Dynasty, of which more than 1,300 people have been passed on and nearly 200 people have listed their names.
The knowledge of painting appreciation in the "Illustrated Treasure Book" is rich and complete, and it integrates the culmination of ancient painting history, forming a very complete painting history system at that time. As the Compendium of the Four Libraries says: "The search is extensive, almost exhaustive, and the most detailed person in the history of Xun Yi painting."
Four
Once published, the "Illustrated Treasure Book" had a far-reaching impact, just like Yu Shao Songyun: "This book is extremely precious to Yilin, and after the Ming Dynasty, it is often quoted by those who discuss painting." (Yu Shaosong: "Solving the Problem of Calligraphy and Painting Bibliography", Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2011 edition, p215)
Under the fame of Xia Wenyan's "Illustrated Treasure Book", the engraving and continuation of the author wanted to attach Ji Wei to pass on his book. In the fourteenth year of Ming Zhengde (1519 AD), Han Ang added a volume of the "Continuation of the Illustrated Treasure Book" to the five-volume edition of Xia Wenyan in the Yuan Dynasty, which is the version of the "Secretary of Jin" that has been handed down today. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Lan Ying, Mao Dalun, and Feng Xianxiang did not see the "continuation" of the Zhengde Ben, and added three volumes to the basis of Xia Wenyan, which is what later generations called the "Continuation of the Illustrated Treasure Book".
In the life of literati since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the "Illustrated Treasure Book" has become the most popular appreciation guide. The Ming and Qing literati's acquisition of connoisseur knowledge was mainly due to the "Illustrated Treasure Book". For example, the Ming Dynasty connoisseur Xiang Yuanbian inscribed on the Song Huizong's "Bamboo Bird Scroll": "Huizong, ten thousand leisure, elegant calligraphy and painting... Or print the worm fish seal with a ladybug. Almost the original text is recorded from the fourth volume of the "Picture Painting Treasure Book" Huizong Biography; the Ming Dynasty Wang Zhenyu inscription Zhao Boju's "Xianshan Pavilion Map": summing up his painting style with "the spirit of consciousness is clear, so that people can see its details", which is highly similar to the wording in the biography of Zhao Boju in the "Picture Painting Treasure Book".
The "Continuation of the Illustrated Treasure Book" expanded by Lan Ying and others in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties
Song Huizong's "Bamboo Bird Scrolls" is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA
Five
At the same time, however, the writings of the ancients were often insufficient due to the limitations of conditions. For painters before the Yuan Dynasty, the "Illustrated Treasure Book" often quotes the famous works of the history of painting of the previous generation, but does not examine and sort out in detail, resulting in many fallacies. For example, the painter "Sealing Film" quotes the Tang Dynasty's "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties"; the painter "Dong Zhan", quoted from the Northern Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Painting Spectrum", both of whom are painters who appeared out of thin air due to the mistakes of the original book. The "Illustrated Treasure Book" does not examine in detail, copying the mistakes of the predecessors, and even spreading false rumors. In addition, the "Illustrated Treasure Book" is also chaotic and rough in its arrangement. For example, the fourth volume of the Southern Song Dynasty has hundreds of painters, divided only by chronology, regardless of their chronology.
In short, the "Illustrated Treasure Book" is flawed. On the bright side, Chinese scholarship pays attention to the accumulation of layers and generations, and the inadequacy of the classics passed down from generation to generation also leaves an academic space for future generations to sort out, restore and explore.
Compiled by Yuan Xia Wenyan and edited by Xiao Shimeng: "Illustrated Treasure Book (< Continuation>, < Continuation compilation> two kinds)"
Edited by Yuan Xia Wenyan and Edited by Xiao Shimeng: "Picture Painting Treasure Book (< Continuation>, < Continuation> Two Kinds) (Edited by Luo Shiping, "Annotation Series of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting History Books" Shanxi Education Publishing House, 2017 edition