Page 44 - 2020 December 2 Christie's Hong Kong Classical Paintings and Calligrahy

A Fable of Medicinal Herbs:

Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe by Zhu Yunming

寓言於藥：祝允明《桑寄生傳》

As a bright and precocious child, Zhu Yunming followed the family 祝允明天賦穎慧，幼承家學，自言先輩“絕令學近
tradition and studied calligraphy. He had recalled that his family “prohibited 人書，目所接皆晉、唐帖也”，由是遵循修習，參
[me] from emulating the recent and contemporary calligraphic styles. All I 以己意，終成名家，兼擅楷、行、草，尤精小楷、
encountered was calligraphy from the Jin and Tang dynasties.” Indeed, he 草書。
adhered to this philosophy while honing his own individual style, and
became one of the most celebrated calligraphers who excelled in every script, 《桑寄生傳》以中藥名稱編撰故事。作者嫺熟中
especially in the small-standard and cursive scripts. 藥，文中鳩集當歸、遠志、劉寄奴、青箱子等藥名
八十餘種，取其諧音敷衍成篇，仿唐傳奇“翻空造
In Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe, more than 80 types of Chinese medicinal 微”假借小說以見詩筆、史才和議論。卷後陳繼儒
herbs and ingredients like Chinese Angelica, Polygala, Artemisia Anomala 跋文云“諧史之文，創自昌黎《毛穎傳》”，已率
and Feather Cockscomb Seed are ingeniously employed to create the story. 先點出來處；董其昌則以為“《桑寄生傳》，枝指
It is an imitation of a type of novel popular in the Tang dynasty, where 山人以文為滑稽者耶？”《桑寄生傳》作者明人記
whimsical and fantastical stories are told through poetry with quasi-historical 載有二：一為“國初江陰孫大雅作之所著”；一是
background, which demonstrates the author’s perspectives as well as his 常熟人蕭韶編撰(明宣德間人)。祝允明獵古好奇，傳
mastery of literary composition and knowledge of history. In his colophon, 世有《志怪錄》、《前聞記》、《野談》等小說為
Chen Jiru points out the source of this story’s inspiration—Han Yu’s 證，董其昌有此認定，復為此傳作者又增一變數。
Biography of Mao Yin. Dong Qichang, on the other hand, suggests in his
colophon that Zhu Yunming himself has written this humorous story. 祝允明《桑寄生傳》以行草書於紙上，用筆秀潤，
According to Ming accounts, there are two possible candidates for the 點劃遒爽。王穉登評此卷“時而纖媚，時而高古，
authorship of Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe: Sun Daya of the early Ming 時而奔放縱逸”，猶如韓信用兵，奇正交替，變化
from Jiangying and Xiao Shao from Changshu (active during the Ming 無窮。此卷在明為“太沖”所藏，入清為慈溪葉元
Xuande reign). Fond of antiquity, curios, and legends, Zhu Yunming has 封（1797-1849）所得，刻入《湖海閣藏帖》卷3，
authored stories and novels featuring ghosts and paranormal activities. As 流布甚廣。
such, the authorship of Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe is further complicated,
especially given Dong Qichang’s assessment. 葉氏自宋季遷居慈溪，宗族繁衍，至清嘉慶後以種
德堂藥業聞名於時，又組織白湖詩社與士人相互唱
Zhu Yuning transcribes Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe in running-cursive 和，並收藏大量字畫精品，為浙東詩林一時佳話。
script on paper, with smooth and elegant brushwork throughout. Wang 清道光15年（1835）葉元封把書帖收藏刻石91方成
Zhideng has commented that this handscroll appears “sometimes charming, 《湖海閣藏帖》8卷，凡明清書家77人，包括江浙一
sometimes archaistic, and sometimes untrammelled.” This is reminiscent of 帶名家如祝允明《桑寄生傳》（見卷3）、董其昌行
the way the famous general Han Xin devised his military strategies—the 書《書王維、岑參、杜甫七律詩》及文徵明《滕王
established mixed with the unorthodox—unpredictable and wide-ranging. 閣序並詩》等，俱為書林逸品。葉氏雅好詩書，聚
Biography of Mulberry Mistletoe was owned by someone named “Taichong” 藏頗富，故所積也厚，今所見祝允明《桑寄生
during the Ming dynasty and later entered the collection of Ye Yuanfeng 傳》，僅其一隅也，識者寶之。
(1797-1849) during the Qing dynasty.
Since the end of Song dynasty the Ye family resided in Cixi of the Zhejiang
province. They prospered and ran the Chinese herbal medicine business
successfully under the name of Zhong De Tang (Hall of Growing Virtues)
since the Jiaqing period of the Qing dynasty. On the cultural front, they
organized Baihu Shishe (White Lake Poetry Society), gathered frequently
with the literati and started collecting calligraphy. In 1835 Ye Yuanfeng
arranged to have his calligraphy collection engraved on 91 stone tablets for
the birth of Calligraphy Models in the Collection of Huhai Ge, with 8 volumes
in total. Amongst the 77 pieces of calligraphy models are Biography of
Mulberry Mistletoe by Zhu Yunming (documented in Vol. 3), Seven-Character
Poems in Running Script by Dong Qichang and Preface and Poem of Pavillion of
Prince Teng by Wen Zhengming.

42