10G KU K'AI-CHIH's SCROLL IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 



Tung Ch'i-ch'ang to write a colophon at the end of this scroll. 

 He had seen other pictures owned by Ku and had written a 

 colophon to the "Hsiao Hsiang" scroll, the text of which 

 is reproduced below.* Tung selected the scroll by Ku 

 K'ai-chih as the first of Ku's four famous scrolls, and re- 

 corded his opinion of it in the colophon which he had been 

 asked to write. The scroll "Admonitions of an Imperial 

 Preceptress" had passed from Ku's hands to those of Hsiang 

 Mo-ling and later to Liang Chao-ling and An I-chou (see 

 Mo Yuan Hui Kuan). When An's property was confiscated, 

 his famous collection of paintings was removed to the palace 

 and become the property of Ch'ien Lung. An had only one 

 picture by Li Kung-ling (Li Po-shih) and that was "The 

 Drunken Priest" of which Ch'ien Lung evidently did not 

 think highly. From other sources he acquired three of 

 Li's pictures, one of which was the "Hsiao Hsiang" which 

 had in an attached colophon the above-quoted reference to 

 Ku K'ai-chih 's scroll. Thus the Emperor secured all of the 

 four famous scrolls belonging to Ku Cheng-i. He says, 

 therefore, that the number of his famous scrolls tallies with 

 that of Ku Cheng-i. 



Dr. Giles' laborious attempt to discover who Ku was, 

 need not be referred to further, except to point out the 

 absurd deductions which have resulted from misinterpreting 

 Ch'ien Lung's inscription. The result has been that Tung 

 Ch'i-ch'ang (A.D. 1600) has been made to write an inscrip- 

 tion on a painting by Li Kung-ling (A.D. 1100) in which 

 reference is made to Ku Shao-lien (A.D. 780) as the owner 

 in Tung's time of a scroll painted by Ku K'ai-chih. It 

 would be difficult to invent a worse example of anachronistic 

 medley than has been given in this instance. 



5. The misreading of yen (fl) for (II) has caused 

 all the trouble in Giles' rendering. The meaning of yen ( H ) 

 here is -H ^ j& @ $( B HI an honorary inscription. In his 

 dictionary Giles has not given this meaning of yen. 



6. The "Four Beautiful Objects" is a well known 

 phrase. In the poetry of Wang Po (Giles 2212) there is a 

 reference to the "Four Beauties" — Ssu Mei Chii. 



In the poetry of Hsieh Ling-vim (Giles 739). "There 

 are four beautiful things in the world which are rarely found 

 together — a bright day, beautiful scenery, a happy heart and 

 enjoyable occupation." 



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