Lanting Preface (Yufu lingzicongshan ben) Image 4

The Lanting Preface is an essay allegedly written by Wang Xizhi (303–361), when he was half drunk, for a collection of poems composed during a gathering of some forty scholars at the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting) in Shanyin (modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang province). The annual literary gathering was held on the 3rd day of the 3rd month in the 9th year of the Yonghe reign (353), following a local tradition to ward off disasters and evil spirits in spring time. The original Lanting Preface manuscript was no longer extant since the early Tang dynasty, but its numerous traced copies as well as engraved rubbings from carvings on stone or wood have represented the most famous piece of semi-cursive calligraphy in the whole history of China. These copies, follow closely the original, always consist of over 320 words arranged in 28 lines.

The Art Museum houses quite a number of very important rubbings of the Lanting Preface dating from the 12th century. The sample selected here were once in the collection of the Southern Song Grand Councillor You Si (? –1251). A native of Nanchong (or Yuechi), Sichuan province, he earned his jinshi degree in 1221. He was appointed Grand Councillor of the Right in 1245, and had been known to be upright, worthy and capable. He was a keen collector of different versions of the Lanting Preface, and at one time, it was said that more than one hundred rubbings of the Preface were in his hands. These rubbings were treasured by later connoisseurs as “Lanting rubbings from the Grand Councillor You collection”. The version selected here was later in the collection of the early Ming Jin Princely Estate and a number of renowned collectors in the Ming and Qing periods.

The label of this album reads “The Imperial Court version with the ling character topped by a shan radical”. The feature of having a shan radical is unique amongst all versions of the Lanting Preface. A recent research has identified this as the Song prototype for the later Yingshang version of the Lanting Preface, widely popular since the 16th century. In 2016, the piece was listed in the “National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books”.