ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Wujun danqing zhi 吳郡丹青志

May 3, 2023 © Ulrich Theobald

Wujun danqing zhi 吳郡丹青志 "Notes on red and blue from Wujun Commandery, full title Guochao Wujun danqing zhi 國朝吳郡丹青志, brief title Danqingzhi 丹青志, is a book on late Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) painting in the lower Yangtze region written by Wang Zhideng 王稚登 (also written 王穉登, 1535-1612), courtesy name Baiyu 百谷, from Wumen 吳門 (today part of Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu).

His short book is an examination of 18 painters (plus 7 in the appendix) from the region of Suzhou (ancient name Wujun 吳郡). As usual, this book combines information on their lives with an assessment of their artistic strengths and skills, following the traditional four-rank system "inspired" (shenpin 神品), "excellent" (miaopin 妙品), "competent" (nengpin 能品), and "untrammeled" (yipin 逸品). Apart from these ranks, Wang also used the term "outsiders" (yiqi 遺耆), "travellers" (qilü 棲旅), and "noble females" (guixiu 閏秀). The similarities of the 25 painters from the Yuan 元 (1279-1368) and Ming periods allows to put them together as the "Suzhou School" (Wupai 吳派).

The text is found in Hua Shu's 華淑 (1589-1643) book Xianqing xiaopin 閑情小品 and in Wang's collected writings Wang Baigu quanji 王百谷全集, as well as in the series Baoyantang miji 寶顏堂秘笈 (where the title is Huanchao Wujun danqing zhi 皇朝吳郡丹青志), Meishu congshu 美術叢書, Guang baichuan xuehai 廣百川學海, Xu shuofu 續說郛 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
Geng Mingdsong 耿明松 (2009). "Wujun danqing zhi de bianzhuan tedian yu huashi jiazhi 《吳郡丹青志》的編撰特點與畫史價值", Hubei Daxue xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban) 湖北大學學報(哲學社會科學版), 2009(4): 122-125.
Han Xuesong 韓雪松 (2013). "Wujun danqing zhi de shixue jiazhi 《吳郡丹青志》的史學價值", Meishu yu sheji 美術與設計, 2013 (1): 31-34+16.
Huang Yan 黃琰 (2020). "Wujun danqing zhi yanjiu zongshu 《吳郡丹青志》研究綜述", Mei yu shidai 美與時代, 2020 (2): 116-117.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1812.
Tao Mingjun 陶明君, ed. (1993). Zhonggu hualun cidian 中國畫論辭典 (Changsha: Hunan chubanshe), 299.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 416.