Lidai minggong huapu 歷代名公畫譜

Lidai minggong huapu 歷代名公畫譜, also known as Gushi huapu 顧氏畫譜, is an album of paintings (huapu 畫譜) compiled during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Gu Bing 顧炳 (active 1594-1603).

It consists of four volumes featuring paintings by 106 renowned masters from various eras, ranging from Gu Kaizhi 顧愷之 (348-405) to Wang Tingce 王廷策 (c. 1600). It was published in 1603. The subjects include landscapes, figures, flowers, birds, bamboo, and trees, with inscriptions and colophons by notable calligraphers accompanying each painting.

This original edition was copied by Tani Bunchō 谷文晁 (1763-1841) in 1784, based on the version published by Gu Sanpin 顧三聘 and Gu Sanxi 顧三錫 published during the Wanli reign-era 萬曆 (1573-1619).

Gu Bing explains the editorial principles of this book in the first section of Six Editorial Rules (Puli liu ze 譜例六則), noting that he based his approach on Xia Wenyan's 夏文彦 (fl. 1365) Tuhui baojian 圖繪寶鑑 from the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368), compiling brief biographies of the painters and arranging them in chronological order. The inscriptions and colophons written after each painting not only guide readers in appreciating the works but also help them become familiar with the artists.

Regarding the selected famous paintings that were adapted into woodblock prints, the third rule explains that Gu adopted the method used in the catalogue Xuanhe bogu tu 宣和博古图, namely "reducing the size of the original". Gu Bing believed that this approach aligned with the idea that "enlarging a scroll does not add anything; reducing a shorter piece does not diminish it". He also clarified that the models for the prints were all traced from authentic masterpieces.

Gu's painting album stands in a row of famous depictions of historical personalities. Other albums are Zhu Tianran's 朱天然 Lidai guren xiangzan 歷代古人像贊 (1498), Lü Weiqi's (1587-1641) Shengxian xiangzan 聖賢像贊, Sun Cheng'en's 孫承恩 Lidai shengxian xiangzan 歷代聖賢像贊 (1498), Jin Guliang's 金古良 Nanling wushuang pu 南陵無雙譜 (Wushuangpu 無雙譜, 1694), Shangguan Zhou's 上官周 (1665-1752) Wanxiaotang huazhuan 晚笑堂畫傳, Yan Xiyuan's 顏希源 Baimei xinyong tuzhuan 百美新詠圖傳 (1792, with illustrations by Wang Hui 王翽 and commentaries by Yuan Mei 袁枚), Gu Yuan's 顧沅 (1799-1851) Wujun mingxian tuzhuan 吳郡名賢圖傳 (will illustrations by Sun Ji 孫繼) and Gu shengxian xiangzhuan lüe 古聖賢像傳略 (with illustrations by Sun Lianqing 孫蓮卿) and Wang Shouwei's 王壽偉 Lidai huaxiang zhuan 歷代畫像傳 (1986, with illustrations by Ding Shanzhang 丁善長).