The current status of the study of the Ode to the Wagtail

Tang Xuanzong's surviving calligraphic works, only this piece is ink, while the other surviving only inscriptions, like: "Pei Guangting stele" "Jinxian eldest princess Shendao stele" "Qingcheng mountain long Taoist temple edicts" "the inner ministry of the province of merit and virtue monument" and so on.

The study of this volume, began a long time ago, but mainland research is often limited to the introduction, in Taiwan, the volume of research is more in-depth.

In recent times, the discussion of the Tang Xuanzong<Wagtail Ode> the focus does not seem to be in the calligraphic style, mainly focused on: First, Xuanzong<Wagtail Ode> the completion of the time; Second, whether the volume is a double hook outline filler. In addition, it will also involve & lt; wagtail ode & gt; who is the author; this volume of the mounting form; volume after the Cai Jing, Cai Bian inscription and this volume of the circulation status.

On the time of completion of the Ode to the Wagtail, the researchers' differences are relatively large, and there are many different opinions. The study of the completion date is mainly based on the content of the ode recounted in conjunction with the historical data to infer. The ode contains a time implied sentence is: "my brother only five people. Than for the square uncle. Years a dynasty to see. Though loaded with Chong clan screen and have a part of the talk and laughter. It is to drop out of the shepherd and each guards the capital duty." and "autumn September Xin You". Although there is a little disagreement about the "five brothers" in the first sentence (more on this below), the general consensus among researchers is that the ode was written after the brothers had returned to the capital (and before the death of the earliest of the brothers, Song Wang Chengyi, who passed away. The general understanding of "Autumn, September, Xinyou" is that it was written on the day of September Xinyou (more on the different views below).

"Twenty years before the beginning of the year" is a relatively early statement, Mr. Xu Bangda in the "ancient painting and calligraphy over the eye to record", according to the content of the ode presumed that the completion of this ode will not be later than the time of the death of the king of shen chengyi, and the king of shen died in the twentieth year of the beginning of the year (the other is the twelfth year of the beginning of the year), so, <wagtail Ode> was completed no later than the twentieth year of the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan, and was written before Emperor Xuanzong was forty-two years old.

The same earlier claim that the "seven years", Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen published in 1977 in the "Shuangxi read painting essays" included & lt; Tang Xuanzong book wagtail ode completion of the age of the test & gt; an article. In the article, Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen according to the Tongjian Kaiyuan four years of records, "the two kings are not out of the joint, the kings of the remote section since the beginning of" concluded that & lt; wagtail ode & gt; writing must be in the Kaiyuan four years after the end of the book. And in the eighth year of the Kaiyuan qi Wang Fan has the intention of rebellion, the situation is quite serious, the gap between the brothers, so it must be before the eighth year of the Kaiyuan. And in September between the fourth and eighth years there are Xinyou days in the fifth, seventh and eighth years of the reign. And five years and eight years on the Tongjian record Xuanzong quite busy, unlikely to be completed, while in the seventh year of the Kaiyuan there is the Song Wang advice, so that Xuanzong is very impressed. Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen believes that <Ode to the Wagtail> was undoubtedly written in response to this event. In 1989, Mr. Huang Weizhong wrote an article titled "Tang Xuanzong<Ode to the Wagtail> and Wei Guangxian", which used two materials about Wei Guangxian that he found in the historical materials to supplement Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen's "Seven Years of Kaiyuan" theory. Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen's "Seven Years of Kaiyuan". Later, in 1998, Mr. Lin Bo-ting's "Memories of Empire: Treasures of the National Palace Museum in France: Ode to the Wagtail of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty", in 2003, Mr. He Chuan-Xin's "Treasures of the Son of Heaven: A Series of Collections of Exhibits from the National Palace Museum in Taipei (V) In 2010, Mr. Tan Yiling's "When Emperor Tang Xuanzong Met the Wagtail" and other articles used the phrase "the seventh year of the reign".

In 2001, Mr. Fang Zhanli's "Ode to the Wagtail> Appreciation and Analysis" positively challenged the "seven years of Kaiyuan" theory. Mr. Fang Zhanli thinks that the inference that <Ode to a Wagtail> was completed after the fourth year of the reign is not a problem, but the eighth year of the reign is not the lower limit. Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen's mention of Qi-wang Fan's attempted rebellion does not seem to be as serious as Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen makes it out to be. First of all, Gi-Wang-Fan himself did not want to conspire against the Emperor, and secondly, although Emperor Xuanzong punished the ministers who were friends with Gi-Wang-Fan, he still treated Gi-Wang-Fan as he did before. Therefore, there was no big gap between the brothers. The lower limit should be before the death of Shen Wang Chengyi, i.e., the twelfth year of the reign of Kaiyuan (Xu Bangda testified that it was the twentieth year of the reign of Kaiyuan). As for the exact year of writing, it depends on when the wagtail fell in the Palace of Lin De happened. Therefore, Mr. Fang Zhanli believes that the Ode to the Wagtail was written between the fourth and twelfth years of the reign.

After that, in 2008, Mr. He Chuanxin in the article "Tang Xuanzong<Ode to a Wagtail>" thought that it was completed in the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan is also possible. Because "from the meaning of the text before and after, first said "than for the square uncle, the year a morning to see", and then the cloud "is to drop out of the shepherd and each of the capital duty", seems to be the first occurrence." Therefore, Mr. He Chuanxin chose the nearest year to the fourth year of the reign, which is the fifth year of the reign.

At first, Mr. Liu Zhengcheng, in his Complete Collection of Chinese Calligraphy, interpreted the xinyou in the phrase "xinyou in the ninth month of autumn" to mean the year of xinyou, and from this Mr. Liu Zhengcheng believed that <Ode to a Wagtail> was completed in the ninth month of the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan (the year of xinyou). It seems that this view is not shared.

Recently, Mr. Hou Yili also put forward the theory of the ninth year of Kaiyuan, which is not the same as the ninth year. Mr. Hou Yili based on the edict of Emperor Xuanzong in the ninth year of the reign of the Emperor, "In that year, all the kings who were governors and assassins were summoned back to the capital." Mr. Hou Yili thinks that the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan is the upper limit of the completion time of the Ode to the Wagtail. And King Shen died in the twelfth year of the reign, which must be the lower limit of the completion of the Ode to the Wagtail. Between the ninth and twelfth years of Kaiyuan only the ninth and twelfth years had Xinyou in September. However, there is a considerable time gap between the twelfth year of the reign and the atmosphere of the kings' return to the capital in the ninth year of the reign, and the death of King Shen in the eleventh month of the twelfth year of the reign, so it is most appropriate that the Ode to the Wagtail was completed in the ninth year of the reign.

In this discussion of the dating of the writing, in addition to the content of the ode mentioned above as a comparison, there are several historical records that are the basis of the discussion. The first is the record of the fourth year of the Tongjian Kaiyuan year, "the two kings are not out of the joint, the kings of the remote section since then" and the Tongjian Kaiyuan nine years of Emperor Xuanzong's edict, "this year, the kings of the governors, assassins, all called back to the capital." According to these two different documentary records, different <Wagtail Ode>>upper limit of the completion time. The former was first proposed by Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen, and before Mr. Hou Yili, there was no doubt among researchers on this point. Even Mr. Fang Zhanli's "four years to twelve years" and Mr. He Chuanxin's "five years" are built on this base. The latter document proposed by Mr. Hou Yili breaks this base point and extends the upper limit to the ninth year of the reign. And read these two documents, we have to say that the development of things need time, Kaiyuan four years is "the kings of the remote section" of the beginning and not all the kings have been "remote section", and Kaiyuan nine years is Xuanzong explicitly issued an edict, means that all the kings have to "remote section". All the kings are going to "lead the festival remotely". The death of King Shen is undoubtedly the latest limit for the completion of the Ode to the Wagtail (there are two ways of saying that this happened: in the twelfth year of the reign and in the twentieth year of the reign, but it seems that the twelfth year of the reign is more likely). The year of the first two is more likely to be the year of the second. But before that, there was an incident in which Gi-Wang-Fan traveled with a minister. The "seventh year of the reign" theory suggests that the relationship between the brothers was seriously affected by this time, but some people think that it was not so serious. As for the interpretation of "xinyou", there is disagreement, but it is basically a one-sided view that "xinyou" denotes a date rather than a year.

Besides the question of the time of completion, there is also the question of whether or not this volume was filled in with double hooks. The earliest question appeared in the "Dongtu xuanwanwan", Mr. Xu Bangda also agree with this view. But more people keep a doubtful attitude towards this question, such as Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen, Mr. He Chuanxin and so on. However, Mr. Hou Yili, after visual inspection and high-definition digital viewing, believes that this volume was written. Mr. Hou Yili also discusses whether what is recorded in the Dongtu xuanan dian is this scroll, and believes that if the Huizong inscription on the Dongtu xuanan dian is written on the front partitions of the water, then the present scroll is not the other scroll. Because there is no Huizong's signature on the front partitions of the present volume, but there is a collection seal of the King of Liang in the early Ming Dynasty (the authenticity of the seal still needs to be confirmed).

As for the trek on the end of the scroll, it is generally believed that it is the authentic handwriting of Cai Jing and Cai Bian, but Mr. Hou Yili, after comparing Cai Jing's "Returning to Anchorage in the Snowy River", "To the Pro-Credit of Jiefu", and Cai Bian's "To the Fourth Brother of Xianggong Shakuji", believes that the trek's quality of writing is a little poorer and there are a lot of mistakes in the handwriting, so it is not the authentic handwriting, but the copy is based on a copy of the writing. There is also a Yuan Guisu's trek recorded in the Dongtu xuanlian, which may have been cut off. The same is true of the Ming Lin You's trek, which has also been cut away.

As for the mounting method, it is generally believed to be "Xuanhe mount". However, this volume is not standard, because of the lack of Huizong's signature and double-dragon garden seal, Xuan Kotewall, the imperial seal is only half, some scholars also questioned the authenticity of this volume. Mr. Hou Yili believes that the present volume was converted from a booklet to a hand scroll during the Xuanhe reign, and because of this, the "Kaiyuan" seal on the mounting seam should be a forgery.

Besides, there are some small problems about this volume: about the author of <Wagtail Song>, Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen thinks that it is the cooperation between Emperor Xuanzong and Wei Guangsheng. This statement has some influence. But Mr. FangZhanLi think & lt; wagtail ode & gt; is XuanZong for sing and WeiGuangXian made the ode and write a piece of alone. The main focus of the debate is the understanding of "down with". There are also different interpretations of "five brothers". Mr. Jiang Zhaoshen's view that the five brothers were Song Wang Chengqi, Shen Wang Chengyi, Xuanzong, Qi Wang Fan, and Xue Wangye is more influential. Mr. Hou Yili, on the other hand, suggests that there was also the Duke Shouli, i.e., the "five brothers" excluding Xuanzong. With regard to the circulation of this scroll, Mr. Zhang Guangbin, in his Collection of Calligraphy and Tablets and Pieces in the Palace Museum, attempted to sort out the status of its circulation, but it was difficult to form a system because of the lack of data on the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties. For the study of the calligraphy style of this volume is more generalized, generally considered to be inherited from the style of Wang Xizhi, but also the aesthetic characteristics of the full-bodied beauty of the Sheng Tang.