Song Shehua Ge Tie: Wang Xianzhi

Author: Wang Xianzhi (Eastern Jin Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
Features: The Cunhua Gallery Collection (also known as The Cunhua Secret Gallery Collection or The Official Collection), abbreviated as The Gallery Collection, was engraved in the "Secret Gallery" during the Cunhua period of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the third year of the Cunhua era (992 AD), Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ordered Wang Zhuo, the Court Painter, to engrave the famous calligraphy pieces from the Han to Tang dynasties in the imperial collection into The Cunhua Secret Gallery Collection in ten volumes. After the collection was completed, the imperial collection used Chengxin Hall paper and Li Tinggui ink to print it. Song Dynasty records state: "Emperor Xiling, who pacified the four directions, after inheriting the legacy of the Han Dynasty, paid attention to calligraphy and painting. Using the imperial collection to preserve the genuine works of later dynasties, he ordered Wang Zhuo, the Court Painter, to engrave them in the palace and organize them into ten volumes." The Cunhua Gallery Collection volumes nine and ten feature Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy, totaling sixty-three pieces in these two volumes. Due to the exquisite craftsmanship of the engravings, the collection accurately reflects Wang Xianzhi's calligraphic style. The Cunhua Secret Gallery Collection (ten volumes) is a historical collection of calligraphy, abbreviated as The Gallery Collection. In the third year of the Cunhua era (992 AD), Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi of the Song Dynasty ordered the preservation of historical calligraphy from the Secret Gallery and commissioned Wang Zhuo to compile and annotate them, engraving them on mulberry wood boards. Officials who entered the two ministries were given a copy of the printed collection. The Gallery Collection is one of China's most famous calligraphy collections. From the Han Emperor Zhangdi to the Tang Emperor Gaozong, it includes works by 103 famous calligraphers, including the "Two Wangs" (Wang Xianzhi and Wang Xizhi), Tang and Liu, with approximately 420 pieces. Since then, a vast number of ancient calligraphic works have been preserved through this collection, earning it the title of the "Crown of Calligraphy Collections" and its legacy enduring for millennia.
Based on the examination of the incomplete volume of the Song Dynasty-printed The Cunhua Gallery Collection in my collection, including The Collection of Famous Ministers of Later Generations (Volume 4) and The Collection of Ancient Calligraphy by Various Masters (Volume 5), I have found that the Tang Dynasty calligraphers included in The Gallery Collection are masters such as Liu Siliang, Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, Liu Gongquan, Li Yi, Lu Jianzhi, Bo Shaoshi, Zhang Xu, and Huai Su. However, Yan Zhenqing is the only major calligrapher who was not included in The Gallery Collection.
Further examination of the Cunhua Gallery Collection from the Shu Mansion reveals that this collection is a Ming Dynasty engraving of a Song Dynasty-printed copy given to Zhu Qian, the Shu Prince, by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty when he was enfeoffed in Lanzhou. This Ming Dynasty engraved and reduced printing edition (published by Shanghai Bookstore in 1990). In 1991, Beijing Ancient Books published a photolithographic edition of The Cunhua Gallery Collection, using a Qing Dynasty Kangxi-era printing as the base. In 1988, China Bookstore published a photolithographic edition of the Song Dynasty-printed The Cunhua Gallery Collection. All three editions of The Gallery Collection do not include Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy.
The Commercial Press published The Cunhua Gallery Collection with Annotations (two volumes) in 1985, which also does not include annotations of Yan Zhenqing's works. This confirms beyond doubt that The Gallery Collection deliberately excluded Yan Zhenqing.