Lot Essay
The Song dynasty Emperor Taizong ordered Wang Zhu to engrave the tie ("inscriptions") of the Chunhua Pavilion on stone in the third year of the Chunhua era (992). The engravings, which were actually carved on wood, consisted of examples of calligraphy from the imperial collection and made up ten volumes. This was the first compilation of a group of tie. After a short time, the engraved wood boards became damaged, and the cracks were repaired with silver nails. Subsequently, the wood boards were burned. By the Song dynasty many recarvings had already been made. However, original carvings were very rare. In modern times only four volumes are known to have survived. During the mid-Qing period, Li Zonghan owned three of the volumes; the sixth, seventh and eighth volumes. In the Republican period these were photomechanically reproduced. The ninth volume, which was recently discovered, is now in the Shanghai Library.
This copy of the fourth volume is the only one that still exists (guben). It was made by rubbing, rather than tamping, ink on white linen. Where it has been thickly applied, the ink has the appearance of paint. In contrast where the ink has been thinly applied, the result resembles cicada wings (chan yi). Also, the outlines of seven of the silver nails can be seen. In rubbings taken from the original boards, such as this one, the volume and board numbers, which were carved on the side of each board to identify it, are placed one below the other. In contrast, later reproductions have a large space between the volume and board numbers. The characters in original rubbings are large, as can be seen in this album. The three volumes owned by Li Zonghan were reproduced by the collotype method. These volumes and the one offered here were all in the collection of Jia Shidao of the Song dynasty and bear two of his seals, as well as his half-seal, "Yi Wen Zhi Yin", applied in the same places in each volume. In comparison to the version of the ninth volume in the Shanghai Library, the ink, rubbing technique and paper are all clearly inferior to this rubbing of the fourth volume.
This copy of the fourth volume is the only one that still exists (guben). It was made by rubbing, rather than tamping, ink on white linen. Where it has been thickly applied, the ink has the appearance of paint. In contrast where the ink has been thinly applied, the result resembles cicada wings (chan yi). Also, the outlines of seven of the silver nails can be seen. In rubbings taken from the original boards, such as this one, the volume and board numbers, which were carved on the side of each board to identify it, are placed one below the other. In contrast, later reproductions have a large space between the volume and board numbers. The characters in original rubbings are large, as can be seen in this album. The three volumes owned by Li Zonghan were reproduced by the collotype method. These volumes and the one offered here were all in the collection of Jia Shidao of the Song dynasty and bear two of his seals, as well as his half-seal, "Yi Wen Zhi Yin", applied in the same places in each volume. In comparison to the version of the ninth volume in the Shanghai Library, the ink, rubbing technique and paper are all clearly inferior to this rubbing of the fourth volume.