KU K AI-CHIH S SCROLL IX THE BRITISH MUSEUM 105 



2. I have followed Giles' translation of the name of 

 this scroll Nii Shi Chen T'u — "The Admonitions of an Im- 

 perial Preceptress" though I find it not altogether satis- 

 factory. Nii Shi can scarcely be called a "preceptress." 

 She was a palace official in charge of readers. Some author- 

 ities, such as Huei Shih-chi and Sun I-hsiang say that 

 women of her class were chosen from good families, while 

 others claim that they were promoted from the position of 

 palace slaves on account of their ability. Their position was 

 secretarial and not preceptorial; hence I should prefer to 

 use "female secretary in a palace" as a translation of Nii Shi. 

 Neither do I consider "Admonitions" as a full translation 

 of Chen ( M ). In this instance the word is used in the same 

 pregnant sense that it was used by Chang Hua and really 

 means "the way of virtue" (Cf. Cicero, Brut. 12, 46 "via 

 et arte discere") or "Admonitions to Virtue." In order that 

 the real meaning of Ku K'ai-chih's scroll may be understood 

 it is necessary to reproduce below (P. 107) the whole of 

 Chang Hua's chapter on this topic from the published col- 

 lection of his writings in the Han Wei Lu Ch'ao Po Shan 

 Chia Chi (&»*S3WH£&). 



I do not agree with Dr. Giles in his criticism of Chavan- 

 nes that a new sentence could not begin with yii ($& ). In 

 the house of a friend in Peking in a pavilion is a tablet on 

 which are the following seven characters written by a dis- 

 tinguished literary man j& jjfc U # 'J? ^ M . This phrase 

 begins with Yii j& and other similar instances might be 

 quoted. 



3. Shen (/1^ ) is sentiment, feeling, the emotional ex- 

 pression of the artist's idea. Ts'ai (££ ) is coloring. The 

 references quoted by Giles in this connection are wide of the 

 mark. 



4. Secretary Ku has given Dr. Giles much unnecessary 

 trouble and has caused him to entirely pervert the meaning 

 of the remaining portion of Ch'ien Lung's inscription. 

 Secretary Ku was a neighbor of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang in Hua- 

 ting. His name was Ku Cheng-i ( M IE H ) and his style 

 Chung-fang ( fa 2? )• He attained in official life to the rank 

 of Chung Shu She Jen ( *J* ft & A ) which in the Ming 

 Dynasty was a Secretary of a Grand Councillor. His record 

 may be found in any one of the following books, i §9 & H "$C 5S 



ii & & m s& -"J m & # % *▼ S3 *t %£ '■< v M 9 w &> 



vi 3e iv s m *. vii m m ft m *« & m n 



The meaning of the text, if it needs any further elucida- 

 tion than I have given in my translation, is that Ku was the 

 owner of the famous picture "Hsiao and Hsiang" and invited 



