Kezhai jigu lu 愙齋集古錄

Kezhai jigu lu 愙齋集古錄 is a book on bronze inscriptions compiled during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wu Dacheng 吳大澂 (1835-1902), courtesy name 止敬 or Qingqing 清卿, style Hengxuan 恆軒 or Kezhai 愙齋. Wu also compiled another catalogues on his collectables, Hengxuan suo jian jijin lu 恆軒所見吉金錄, with a length of 2 juan.

The catalogue has a length of 26 juan, plus one draft fascicle of transcriptions of some bronze texts (Shiwen shenggao 釋文剩稿). It was actually never finished by Wu Dacheng, but was printed in 1896 in a version that was finished by other researchers. In this version, it includes rubbings of the inscriptions and decorations of 1,048 objects from the Shang 商 (17th-11th cent. BCE) and Zhou 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) periods, 19 from the Qin period 秦 (221-206 BCE), 76 from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE), and one object from the Jin period 晉 (265-420), in total 1,144 pieces.

Not all inscriptions are commented or transcribed, but the most important and most interesting ones in Wu's collection are well researched and reproduced in good printing quality. Because some errors crept in Wu's collections of rubbings, Bao Ding 鮑鼎 (1899-1979) compiled critical annotations, Kezhai jigu lu jiaokanji 愙齋集古錄校勘記, but Bao committed some errors by interpreting some of Wu's correct statements as faulty.

The Kezhai jigu lu was printed in 1918 by the Hanfen Studio 涵芬樓 of Sun Yuxiu 孫毓修 (1871-1922).

Figure 1. Rubbing of the decoration of a Shang-period bell in the Kezhai jigu lu 愙齋集古錄

Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 edition.