90
CHUANG SHEN
following either the joint principle or the separate principle throughout the Ch'ing dynasty.
It may also be worthwhile for us to look into the editing methods employed in the art catalogues of the five Kwangtung collectors. Starting from the middle of the Ming dynasty (the 16th century is taken here as the demarcating point), the editing methods used in Chinese art catalogues can also be classified into two types. Most of the catalogues completed during the Sung and the Yuan periods, as well as in early Ming, possessed the following three characteristics:
(1) brief description of subject matter seen on the painting proper.
(2) in regard to the colophons written on or outside the painting proper, most of the time only the names of colophon writers were recorded,
(3) as to the seals stamped on or outside the painting proper, most of the time only the names of the seal owners were recorded.
In other words, before the Wan Li era of mid Ming, art catalogue compilers only gave limited attention to the content of colophons and to the text and shape of the seals. After the Wan Li era, however, in regard to the inscriptions and colophons, a number of innovations in the compilation of Chinese art catalogues began to appear.
First of all, in his Tieh-wang san-hu, Chu Ts'un-li not only recorded the artists' own short inscriptions, but also recorded in detail the longer colophons written by the collectors' or the artists' friends on or outside the painting proper. As a result, in reading the catalogue, the reader would have a clear picture of the background of each painting, its history of transmission, as well as other people's opinion of it. In comparison with the editing methods employed in art catalogues of the previous few centuries, Chu Ts'un-li's editing method was undoubtedly a major change. Therefore, although after the publication of the Tieh-wang san-hu, certain compilers ignored Chu's editing method and still adhered to the traditional ways, there were actually a great number of others who accepted the new way readily. The San-hu-wang hua-lu, completed in the 16th year of the Ch'ung Chên era by Wang K'o-yü, was one of the more important art catalogues that first followed this new