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The Suigong Xu 遂公盨 Calligraphy and Inscription: A Contextual Reconstruction and Translation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2014

Wen Xing 邢文*
Affiliation:
6191 Bartlett Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. 03755, USA, Wen.Xing@Dartmouth.EDU

Abstract

This article discusses some of the major issues that arise in the reconstruction and interpretation of the Suigong xu inscription, including a discussion of the authenticity issue from the perspective of Western Zhou calligraphy, and provides a contextual reconstruction of the bronze inscription as well as an English translation. The author argues that the Suigong xu calligraphy is consistent with the typical calligraphic style of the late Western Zhou bronze inscriptions represented by the Sanshi pan and Maogong ding rather than with the style of the middle Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, in particular, those dated to the reign of King Gong. It also argues that the main body of the Suigong xu inscription consists of two paragraphs that end with the two exclamatory sentences jue wei wei de 厥亹唯德 and with (jue) hungou yi wei xie tian (厥) 婚媾亦唯協天 respectively, and that both sentences share the same sentence structure jue 厥 … wei 唯 …

本文討論遂公盨銘文的復原與闡釋中出現的若干主要問題 , 從西周金文書法的角度進行了辨偽探討 , 并對該銘文作了關聯性復原與英文翻譯。作者認為遂公盨銘文的書法風格 , 與西周中期尤其是恭王時期的金文書法不合 , 而與以散氏盤、毛公鼎為代表的西周晚期的金文書法風格相合。文章認為遂公盨銘文的主體由兩段文字構成 , 這兩段文字分別以 “厥亹唯德” 與 “(厥) 婚媾亦唯協天” 這兩個感嘆句結束 , 而這兩個感嘆句使用的都是 “厥……唯……” 的句式結構 。

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 2013

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References

1. The Suigong xu was published in 2002 in both a museum catalog edited by the Poly Art Museum 保利藝術博物館, X Gong Xu: Da Yu Zhishui yu Wei Zheng yi de 公盨–––大禹治水與爲政以德 (Beijing: Xianzhuang, 2002)Google Scholar, and in Zhongguo lishi wenwu 中國歷史文物 2002.6, both of which included the following four articles: Xueqin, Li 李學勤, “Lun Suigong xu jiqi zhongyao yiyi” 論 公盨及其重要意義, reprinted in Xueqin, Li, Zhongguo gudai wenming yanjiu 中國古代文明研究 (Shanghai: Huadong shifan daxue, 2005), 126–36Google Scholar; Xigui, Qiu 裘錫圭, “Bingong xu mingwen kaoshi”  公盨銘文考釋, reprinted in Xigui, Qiu, Zhongguo chutu guwenxian shijiang 中國出土古文獻十講 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue, 2004), 4677 Google Scholar; Fenghan, Zhu 朱鳳瀚, “X-gong xu mingwen chushi”  公盨銘文初釋, Zhongguo lishi wenwu 2002.6, 2834 Google Scholar; and Ling, Li 李零, “Lun X-gong xu faxian de yiyi” 論 公盨發現的意義, Zhongguo lishi wenwu 2002.6, 3545 Google Scholar.

2. Xueqin, Li, “Lun Suigong xu,” 126 Google Scholar. This date is somehow controversial. In her presentation Bin (Sui)-Gong Xu: a Unique Western Zhou Document, a Modern Forgery, or an Early Chinese Antiquarian Imitation” (Paris: Chinese Manuscripts Workshop 4, 07 4, 2012)Google Scholar, Maria Khayutina argues, although without convincing evidence, that the X Gong xu should be dated to the early Spring and Autumn 春秋 (770–477 B.C.E.) period.

3. In addition to the four articles published in Zhongguo lishi wenwu listed in note 2, the articles published in Huaxue 華學 6 (2003)Google Scholar include Tsung-i, Jao 饒宗頤, “Bingong xu yu Xia shu yipian Yu zhi zong de” 公盨與夏書佚篇《禹之總德》, 16 Google Scholar; Fengwu, Zhou 周鳳五, “Suigong xu ming chutan” 遂公盨銘初探, 714 Google Scholar; Kun, Luo 羅琨, “Bingong xu ming yu Da Yu zhishui de wenxian jizai” 燹公盨銘與大禹治水的文獻記載, 1525 Google Scholar; Jianhua, Shen 沈建華, “Du X-gong xu mingwen xiaozha” 讀公盨銘文小札, 2630 Google Scholar; Yongshan, Zhang 張永山, “Bingong xu ming ‘duo shan jun chuan’” 公盨銘 “隓山叡川” 考, 3134 Google Scholar; Linchang, Jiang 江林昌, “Suigong xu mingwen de xueshu jiazhi zonglun” 公盨銘文的學術價值綜論, 3549 Google Scholar. The articles published in International Research on Bamboo and Silk Documents: Newsletter 3.2–6 (2003)Google Scholar, i.e., The X Gong Xu 公盨: A Report and Papers from the Dartmouth Workshop, ed. Xing Wen 邢文, include Yu, Liu 劉雨, “Bingong kao” 豳公考, 616 Google Scholar; Allan, Sarah, “Some preliminary comments on the 公盨,” 1623 Google Scholar; Cook, Constance A., “Bin Gong xu and Sage-king Yu: Translation and Commentary,” 2328 Google Scholar; Huber, Horst, “Some literary remarks occasioned by four readings of the X gong xu  公盨 inscription,” 2933 Google Scholar; Fitzgerald-Huber, Louisa G., “The X gong xu  公盨: Brief notes on the question of authenticity, with an excursus into the derivation of the xu vessel type,” 3444 Google Scholar; Ifan, Cheng 程一凡, “A Royal Food Container and Its Discontents,” 4449 Google Scholar; Wangping, Shao 邵望平, “Xinhuo Xi Zhou tongxu xum-ing san ti” 新獲西周铜盨盨銘三題, 4952 Google Scholar; Wen, Xing, “Suigong xu ming de fenduan yu ‘Jue wei wei De’”  公盨銘的分段與“厥亹唯德,” 5355 Google Scholar. In addition, Chen Shu's “Collected Interpretations of the X Gong Xu,” published in the same volume, includes a rubbing and scans of the original Chu-script graphs, as well as references to other scholars interpretations.

4. Allan, Sarah, “Background to the Workshop on the  公盨,” International Research on Bamboo and Silk Documents: Newsletter 3.2–6 (2003), 35 Google Scholar.

5. Allan, , “Some preliminary comments,” 1623 Google Scholar; Cook, , “Bin Gong xu and Sage-king Yu,” 2328 Google Scholar.

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7. Shaughnessy, Edward L., “The Bin Gong Xu Inscription and the Origins of the Chinese Literary Tradition,” in Books in Numbers: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Harvard-Yenching Library, Conference Papers, ed. Idema, Wilt (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2007), 321 Google Scholar. In 2005, a Russian translation of the bronze inscription was also published. Maria Khayutina, “Bin (Sui)-gong xu i konstruirovanie proshlogo v kitaiskoi tradizii” (Bin [Sui]-gong xu and the construction of the past in Chinese tradition), in Materialy kitaevedceskoj konferencii ISAA pri MGU (Mai 2004 g.) (Proceedings of the Sinological Conference of the Institute of Asian and African Countries of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University [May 2004]) (Moscow: ISAA, 2005), 59-70.

8. Contextual Reconstruction includes two steps. The first step focuses on the analysis of each individual character. The second step focuses on reconstructing a text as a whole; Xing Wen, “Zouxiang Zhongguo guwenshuxue: Shizi de toumingxing yu fuyuan de guanlianxing” 走向中國古文書學: 釋字的透明性與復原的關聯性 (plenary session presentation for the Conference on “Chinese Manuscriptology,” 中國古文書學”研討會, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, June 2012).

9. Xing Wen, “Suigong Xu: Typology, Calligraphy, and a Transparent Transcription” (paper presented at the X Gong Xu workshop at Dartmouth College, March 1, 2003).

10. Ifan, Cheng, “A Royal Food Container and Its Discontents,” in Xing, , The X Gong Xu  公盨, 4449 Google Scholar.

11. The early period includes Zhou Kings Wu 武 (1046–1043 B.C.E.), Cheng 成 (1042–1021 B.C.E.), Kang 康 (1020–996 B.C.E.), and Zhao 昭 (995–977 B.C.E.), and the late period includes Zhou Kings Li 厲 (877–841 B.C.E.), Xuan 宣 (827–782 B.C.E.), and You 幽 (781–771 B.C.E.). Shimin, Wang 王世民, Gongrou, Chen 陳公柔 and Changshou, Zhang 張長壽, eds., Xi Zhou qingtongqi fenqi duandai yanjiu 西周青銅器分期斷代研究 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1999), 4 Google Scholar.

12. See also Fitzgerald-Huber, Louisa G., “The X gong xu  公盨: Brief notes on the question of authenticity, with an excursus into the derivation of the xu vessel type,” in Xing, , The X Gong Xu 公盨, 3444 Google Scholar.

13. Please refer to Chen Shu's “Collected Interpretations of the X Gong Xu” in this volume for a more comprehensive summary of the relevant scholarship on the X Gong xu.

14. Xueqin, Li, Zhongguo gudai wenming yanjiu, 129–30Google Scholar; Tsung-i, Jao, “Bingong xu yu Xia shu yipian,” 45 Google Scholar.

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17. Xigui, Qiu, Zhongguo chutu guwenxian shijiang, 4851 Google Scholar; Fengwu, Zhou, “Suigong xu ming chutan,” 78 Google Scholar.

18. Xueqin, Li, Zhongguo gudai wenming yanjiu, 129–30Google Scholar. According to Li, the sui 隋/隨 graph with an earth component at the bottom is actually sui with the earth component placed to the left of the su 隋 rather than to the bottom of it as in duo 墮.

19. Yumei, Shi 師玉梅, “Shuo ‘sui shan jun chuan’ zhi sui” 說 “隨山濬川” 之隨, Guwenzi yanjiu 古文字研究 25 (2004), 144–47Google Scholar. The bronze inscription evidence that Shi added is sui inscribed on the Qi nian Zheng ling ge 七年鄭令戈, which has all the components of except omitting one of the two hands, you 又, see page 145.

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21. Xigui, Qiu, Zhongguo chutu guwenxian shijiang, 51 Google Scholar.

22. Fengwu, Zhou, “Suigong xu ming chutan,” 8 Google Scholar.

23. As documented in “Jian'ai” 兼愛 of the Mozi 墨子, “Zhou yu” 周語 of the Guo yu 國語, and “Teng wen gong” 滕文公 of the Mencius 孟子, etc. However, Gu Jiegang argues that both Gun and Yu used the swelling soil to “fill” the flood, i.e., yi xitu tian hongshui 以息土填洪水, Jiegang, Gu, Gu Jiegang gushi lunwen ji (juan yi), 516–29Google Scholar. This is the probable source of Mark Lewis's argument that Yu “used mountain heights, and hence the ‘swelling’ soil, to form ranges that channeled the flood waters into the sea,” Lewis, Mark Edward, The Flood Myths of Early China (Albany: SUNY Press, 2006), 63 Google Scholar.

24. Shisanjing zhushu: Shang shu zhengyi, 6.132.

25. Shisanjing zhushu: Shang shu zhengyi, 5.112.

26. Based on Li's transcription and interpretation, Xueqin, Li, Zhongguo gudai wenming yanjiu, 127 and 133 Google Scholar.

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28. Jao did not clearly explain this sentence, and the translation is based on Jao's interpretation of the whole text. See Tsung-i, Jao, “Bingong xu yu Xia shu yipian,” 45 Google Scholar.

29. Tsung-i, Jao, “Bingong xu yu Xia shu yipian,” 46 Google Scholar.

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36. Tsung-i, Jao, “Bingong xu yu Xia shu yipian,” 5 Google Scholar. See also Poly Art Museum, X Gong Xu: Da Yu Zhishui yu Wei Zheng yi de, 60 Google Scholar.

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48. The origin of the left component is not clear yet. Just like the right component, the left component is also a semantic component. The whole graph is considered a phonetic component as well.

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76. Professors Qiu Xigui, Li Jiahao 李家浩 and Wu Zhenwu 吳振武 have alternative interpretations of the graph . See Zhenwu, Wu, “Shishi Xi Zhou Xi gui mingwen zhong de ‘xin’ zi” 試釋西周㺇簋銘文中的 “馨” 字, Wenwu 2006.11, 6162 Google Scholar.

77. See note 9 above.

78. My reconstruction work of the Hengxian 恒先 (ante-eternity), a Warring States Chu 楚 bamboo slip text in the Shanghai Museum collection, is an example of a reconstruction based on the internal textual structure. See Wen, Xing, “Chu jian Hengxian shiwen fenzhang” 楚簡《恒先》釋文分章, Zhongguo zhexue shi 中國哲學史 2010.2, 5156 Google Scholar. For example, my reconstruction of slips 7 and 10 reveals the internal parallel structure of the text, as I argued in The Division into Sections and Interpretation of the Chu Script Bamboo Slip Manuscript Hengxian 恒先,” Association for Asian Studies annual meeting presentation (Philadelphia, 03, 2010)Google Scholar. However, the official transcription published by the Shanghai Museum fails to see the internal textual structure and thus mis-reconstructs the original text. See Chengyuan, Ma 馬承源, ed., Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu (san) 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書 (三) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2003), 294–96Google Scholar.

79. Wen, Xing, “Suigong xu ming de fenduan,” 5355 Google Scholar; and “Shiwen yu shijing,” 117–26.