Wu-Yue suojian shuhua lu 吳越所見書畫錄 is a book on calligraphy and painting written by Lu Shihua 陸時化 (1714-1789), courtesy name Runzhi 潤之, style Tingsong 聽松, from Taicang 太倉, Jiangsu. The title of the book goes back to the origin of Lu's family from the border region between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with the ancient names Wu and Yue.
The book is a catalogue of calligraphic works and paintings circulated in the Wu and Yue regions. It records a total of 628 works, making it quite substantial in scale compared to other catalogues of calligraphy and painting. It mainly discusses the appreciation, collection, and mounting of calligraphy and painting, and also addresses methods of forgery. This book consists of 6 juan. It follows the format of Gao Shiqi's 高士奇 (1645-1703) Jiangcun xiaoxia lu 江村銷夏錄, though with some adaptations. A few entries are copied from the Tiewang shanhu 鐵網珊瑚 and Gao's book, with their original sources duly noted.
In terms of organisation, the work is arranged in chronological order by dynasty. In the Jiangcun xiaoxia lu, inscriptions, poems, and size notations are printed in small characters. However, Lu Shihua held that inscriptions and poems are part of the main content of calligraphy and painting, so they should be written in the same format. Moreover, whereas the Jiangcun xiaoxia lu would leave blank any seal-script titles the editor couldn't decipher, Lu's book faithfully reproduces them. Unlike the Jiangcun xiaoxia lu, which often omits recording dimensions at the end of commentaries, the Wu-Yue suojian shuhua lu includes those measurements. Judging from the editorial principles alone, this book appears to better meet the standards of a proper cataloguing work than Gao's book. Following the editorial principles is the table of contents.
Notably, among the many works recorded, very few genuine pieces have actually survived. Aside from Wu Zhen's 吳鎮 (1280-1354) Yi ye zhu 一葉竹 and Mozu pu 墨竹譜, Ni Zan's 倪瓚 (1301-1374) Shuizhuju tu 水竹居圖, Wen Zhengming's 文徵明 (1470-1559) Jinjiao luozhao tujuan 金蕉落照圖卷, and Shen Zhou's 沈周 (1427-1509) Yanhuaxi tujuan 罨畫溪圖卷, most are either lost, scattered, or believed to be forgeries. This reveals that, compared to other catalogues such as An Qi's 安歧 (1683-?) Moyuan huiguan 墨緣彙觀 and Ruan Yuan's 阮元 (1764-1849) Shiqu suibi 石渠隨筆, the authenticity and scholarly value of the works recorded by Lu Shihua are significantly lower.
Nevertheless, the Wu-Yue suojian shuhua lu remains an important catalogue, providing considerable "energy" or inspiration for later generations. Particularly noteworthy is its innovative approach to structure and organisation, which represents a departure from earlier models. It a valuable reference work among the many art catalogues of its kind and rightly deserves to be considered an essential desk companion for connoisseurs and scholars of painting and calligraphy history.
The book is included in the series Yuyuan congke 娛園叢刻 and Yuyuan congke 榆園叢刻.