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Wudai minghua buyi 五代名畫補遺

Aug 31, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Wudai minghua buyi 五代名畫補遺 "Additions to famous paintings of the Five Dynasties period" is a critique on painters of the Five Dynasties period 五代 (907-960) written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Liu Daochun 劉道醇 (c. 1028-1098), who hailed from the capital city Bianliang 汴梁 (modern Kaifeng 開封, Henan).

The origin and name of the book is not very clear. Chao Gongwu's 晁公武 (c. 1105-1180) bibliography Junzhai dushu zhi 郡齋讀書志 uses the name Wudai minghua buyi, but calls the writer Liu Daocheng 劉道成. In the preface, written by Fu Jiaying 符嘉應, there is word of a book called Liangchao minghua lu 梁朝名畫錄 "Famous paintings of the (Later) Liang period" written by Hu Jiaochang 胡嶠 (10th cent.), with the explanation that Liu's book is a kind of supplement (buyi 補遺) to this older book on painters. The author of the book Songchao minghua ping 宋朝名畫評 is also called Liu Daocheng. The bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題 says that the book Wudai minghua ji 五代名畫記 was written by Liu Daochun, and that the preface was written by Chen Xunzhi 陳詢直, not Fu Jiaying.

The short book is divided into 7 chapters in which 24 painters are classified into one of three categories of quality (pin 品), namely "inspired" (shen 神), "extraordinary" (miao 妙), and "competent" (neng 能). The chapters deal each with a different genre. For each painter a short biography is provided, and his skills are described.

The Wudai minghua buyi is included in the series Wangshi shuhua yuan 王氏書畫苑 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書. A modern edition was published in 1985 by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1799.
Linghu Biao 令狐彪 (1992). "Wudai minghua buyi 五代名畫補遺", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, part Meishu 美術 (Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), Vol. 2, 879.
Qi Tinggui 戚廷貴, Liu Xiaoyan 劉孝嚴, Tang Shufan 唐樹凡, eds. (1992). Dong-xifang yishu cidian 東西方藝術辭典 (Changchun: Jilin jiaoyu chubanshe), 684.
Qiu Ren 裘仁 (1996). "Wudai minghua buyi 五代名畫補遺", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Yishu 藝術卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 628.
Tao Mingjun 陶明君, ed. (1993). Zhongguo hualun cidian 中國畫論辭典 (Changsha: Hunan chubanshe), 288.
Xu Sheng 徐聲 (2010). "Shengchao minghua ping ji Wudai minghua buyi de shidai tese 《聖朝名畫評》及《五代名畫補遺》的時代特色", Yishu baijia 藝術百家, 2010 (2): 290-293+329.
Xu Sheng 徐聲 (2012). "Shengchao minghua ping ji Wudai minghua buyi de xiezuo shidai he wenhua beijing 《聖朝名畫評》及《五代名畫補遺》的寫作時代和文化背景", Jiangsu shehui kexue 江蘇社會科學, 2012 (6): 193-199.