Guyu tukao 古玉圖考

Guyu tukao 古玉圖考 is a book on ancient objects made of nephrite compiled during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wu Dacheng 吳大澄 (1835-1902). The book, with a size of two volumes, was published in 1889 in a lithographical edition by the Tongwen Shuju 同文書局 in Shanghai. An earlier draft version arranged in 4 juan had been printed by Mo Shengsun 莫繩孫 (1844-1919).

Figure 1. Illustration of a jade tablet from the Guyu tukao 古玉圖考

The "large" memorial tablet (da gui 大圭) was reproduced in the original print at a scale of 5:10. It was greenish, with a yellow tone in the lower part. The text to the left discusses primary sources on gui-type tablets.

The book reproduces and describes nearly 200 jade objects dating from oldest antiquity to the Tang period 唐 (618-907). They are arranged according to types (gui 圭 and zhang 璋 tablets, yuan 瑗, jue 玦 and bi 璧 rings, fu 符 tallies, xi 璽seals, pei 佩 pendants, etc.) in such a wide range that for each typical tool, only one or a few objects are presented. The illustrations were drawn by the author's brother Wu Dazhen 吳大楨, while the descriptive text of the catalogue was compiled by Wu Dacheng himself. Wu also commented on earlier catalogues of jade collectables, like the Xuanhe bogu tu 宣和博古圖, Lü Dalin's 呂大臨 (c. 1042-c. 1090) Kaogutu 考古圖 or Zhu Zemin's 朱澤民 (1294-1365) Guyutu 古玉圖.