The Earliest Calligraphy Collection of China

WANG, Zhu, editor.

Song ta chun hua ge tie you xiang ben [Model Books of Calligraphy from the Imperial Archives of the Chunhua Reign Period].

More than 400 collotypes. Ten vols. Small folio, orig. blue wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, orig. stitching. From the colophon (in trans.): Shanghai: Shang wu yin shu guan, 1924.

A fine and very rare edition of the earliest calligraphy collection of China. “In 992, the third year of the Chunhua reign (990-995), by command of the Song dynasty Emperor Zhao Jiong (reigned 976-998), the Court Calligrapher Wang Zhu selected masterpieces of calligraphy in the imperial collection. He had them carved in stone, and then had rubbings made which were mounted into an album. As a collective album of calligraphic copies, it consists of ten volumes featuring calligraphic copies by former emperors, eminent officials, and calligraphy masters…

“Creating rubbings of calligraphic masterpieces is one ancient printing technique. First, workers traced a piece of writing on to a horizontal stone or woodblock: after writing the characters on a piece of paper, they used vermillion ink to outline them on the back. With a few more pieces of paper on top, they pressed the back of the paper against a stone or a woodblock to transfer the red impression from which they did the engraving. Finally, they used durable paper to make ink rubbings from the stone or wood engravings…

“The first volume includes works by the deceased emperors and kings of past dynasties. Volume two to four gathers calligraphy by eminent officials. The fifth volume contains masterpieces of different calligraphers while volume six, seven, and eight feature Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-361), and nine to ten features Wang Xianzhi (344-386, Wang Xizhi’s seventh son)…

“According to the Yuan painter and calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), the album was comprised of calligraphic masterpieces dating from Xia, Shang, Zhou to the Tang dynasty (618-907)…Because the number was limited, the album was highly prized by later generations…

“Model Books of Calligraphy from the Imperial Archives of the Chunhua Reign is the earliest calligraphy collection of China. Despite the inclusion of counterfeit works due to the incompetence of the compiler, the album is still precious enough for its success in maintaining the copies of predecessors calligraphic works. Therefore, it is honored as ‘ancestor of exemplary ink rubbings’ (fatie zhizu).”–from the Beijing Palace Museum webpage (accessed 24 Jan. 2022).

Very fine and fresh set, preserved in a hantao.

❧ Amy McNair, “The Engraved Model-Letters Compendia of the Song Dynasty” in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 114, No. 2 (April-June 1994), pp. 209-25. WorldCat Accession number: 1016173142.

Price: $4,000.00

Item ID: 8030