胡正言 Hu zhenyan

Nine polychrome or ink xylographic prints with nine printed poems, preface of 8 pp. dated 天启丁卯年立秋日 (August 8,1627), and signed by 杨文骢 Yang Wen-cong. Tall 8vo (17,5 x 30 cm). Red paper covered boards bearing the three characters 翎毛谱 on front with pale blue silk margins (18th century or before). Calligraphic leaves and polychrome xylographic prints mounted on thick boards. Woodblocks and accompanying poems slightly soiled. One seal and one character rubbed, silk margins used. Minor worming, early well-mended. Little dusty. In very good overall condition.

The Shizhuzhai shuhuapu is divided into eight categories: birds, plums, orchids, bamboos, fruit, stones, ink drawings (round fans) and miscellany. Each category is divided into two fascicles.

The leaves are printed on one side only, folded in half and glued together along the outer fold.

We offer 18 folios of the first category (a mix of the first and second fascicle) which originally comprises 40 folios.

Here below are the similiraties between the images of our copy and the ones from the University of Cambridge’s copy:

The preface (8 pages) of our copy is 22 characters longer, and the explicit is duplicated.

Woodblock 1 of our copy is similar to the image 37 of UC: Preening bird on rock with rose bush. [Fascicle 2].

Woodblock 2 is similar to the image 17 (the seal is not the same, Wuyun五雲 in our copy but the accompanying poem is similar: Japanese Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone atrocaudata; Ink and blue). [1].

Woodblock 3 is similar to the image 15: Flying bird with falling petals. [1]. In our copy, the seal is to the left.

Woodblock 4 is similar to the image 13: Bird on rose brush (ink). [1].

Woodblock 5 is similar to the image 29: Wagtail (?) sunning on rock (different colouring). [2].

Woodblock 6 is similar to the image 43: Bird on bush of crepe myrthe (Lagerstroemia indica) (ink). [2].

Woodblock 7 is similar to the image 19: Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) on pear (?) branch. [1].

Woodblock 8 is similar to the image 41: Pair of birds with azalea. [2].

Woodblock 9 is similar to the image 5: Bird on plum branch (ink). [1].

Poets and artists seals or signatures are the following:

Woodblock 1. [凌雲翰Liang Yunhan] 五雲 Wuyun (artist name).

Poem 1. 龜止Gui Zhi.

Woodblock 2.五雲Wu Yun.

Poem 2. [張光世 Zhang Guangshi] 光世 Guangshi (artist name).

Woodblock 3. [凌雲翰Liang Yunhan] 五雲 Wuyun (artist name).

Poem 3. [Zhou Yongnian周永年] 永年 Yongnian (artist name). 

Woodblock 4.五雲Wu Yun.

Poem 4. 呉頴 Wuyan (artist name).

Woodblock 5. [凌雲翰Liang Yunhan] 五雲 Wuyun (artist name).

Poem 5. 唐泰 Tang Tai.

Woodblock 6. [凌雲翰 Liang Yunhan] 五雲氏 Wuyunshi (artist name)

Poem 6. Seal erased.

Woodblock 7. [凌雲翰Liang Yunhan] 五雲 Wuyun (artist name).

Poem 7. 杨文骢 Yang Wen-cong.

Woodblock 8.五雲Wu Yun.

Poem 8. 齊安鍾欣題Written with pleasure by Qi Anzhong.

Woodblock 9. [凌雲翰 Liang Yunhan] 五雲 Wuyun (artist name).

Poem 9. 唐泰 Tang Tai.

Our copy is a very early copy, first edition, first or second superstate (printed from 1633 to ca. 1703 -1775) see Thomas Ebrey, ‘The Editions, superstates and states of the Ten Bamboo Studio Collection of Calligraphy and Painting’, East Asian Library Journal 14, no. 1(2010), 1-119: “This preface [to the  “Bird” volume]  is four pages [=8] long in all the first-superstate exemplars I have examined. However, in the second-superstate exemplars and in all later editions, this preface is only three pages long, one page having been accidentally omitted”. See our note above about the preface.

Provenance: Colin de Plancy. See his auction catalogue, Drouot, 1911’s Collections d’un amateur. Objets d’art de la Corée, de la Chine et du Japon, Paris, E. Leroux, 1911, n° 810. Description of this item in French: Recueil d’oiseaux et de plantes. Estampes en couleurs. Tirage ancien.

 A pencil note by the person who bought this item at this time “Scarce, old print”.

《十竹齋書畫譜》是一本書畫冊，分為翎毛、果譜、蘭譜、竹譜、梅譜、石譜、墨華、書畫八大類，每類又分為兩冊。該版本有翎毛譜的十八個對開葉，分別為九葉彩色套印或墨色木刻的畫作和九葉書法題詩，此外還有楊文驄於1627年8月8日（天啟丁卯立秋日）所題寫的《翎毛譜小序》。

該書是非常早的版本，極有可能是初版或二版。圖版和題詩有輕微的舊痕，總體而言品相極佳。

来源：Colin de Plancy拍賣圖錄——《愛好者收藏：中日韓藝術品》（1911，巴黎E. Leroux出版），第810號，其中對該件的描述為：鳥類和植物的彩色舊版畫。

內有購入此書的舊藏者標識：罕見、老舊版本。

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