FIVE ART CATALOGUES
105
There are still other mistakes that arise out of carelessness in proof-reading in the Hsin-ch'ou hsiao-hsia-chi. The two following examples will serve as evidence. Firstly, an entry of a landscape album executed by the Sung and Yuan artists is recorded in chüan 2 of this catalogue. In this specific album, the third leaf is a painting entitled K'u-shu han-ya-t'u painted by Liang K'ai. Apparently, the character “ya” in the title is a slip of the pen for “ya”. Secondly, an entry of Ch'iu Ying's Yü-tung hsien-yuan-t'u in chüan 5 of this catalogue is accompanied by descriptions about this painting respectively quoted from Pien Yung-yü and An Ch'i. In Pien's description, there is such a sentence, "i-hsien-lao ch'in-shu tieh-tso" (“An immortal sits cross-legged with a lute and some books"). Again, the character "tieh" is obviously erroneously taken for the character "fu". However, in An Ch'i's description, this character “fu” is in its correct form, and so it looks as though Pien Yung-yu's original text has such a mistake. But on checking Pien's Shih-ku-t'ang hua-k'ao, it is found that the character also appears as “fu” and not "tieh". From this, it is evident that Pien's original text is correct, and it is only when Wu Yung-kuang quoted this text that this particular character began to appear. Therefore Wu is the one that should be fully responsible for this kind of proof-reading error.
Among the art catalogues of the 19th century Kwangtung collectors, the above-mentioned proof-reading errors can also be found in Liang T'ing-nan's catalogue. Two such examples are given below.
Three scrolls of painting done by Ch'ien Hsüan of the early Yüan period are recorded in chüan 1 of T'êng-hua-t'ing shu-hua-pa. Ch'ien Hsüan's literary name is Shun-chü. In recording this early Yuan artist, Liang T'ing-nan designated him as Ch'ien Shun-chü and not as Ch'ien Hsüan. This is not incorrect. But in the table of contents of chüan 1, Ch'ien Hsüan's literary name has been wrongly recorded as Hsin-chü. If this literary name is recorded twice as Shun-chü and once as Hsin-chü, then this carelessness in proof-reading is perhaps excusable. However in the table of contents of chüan 1 of Teng-hua-t'ing shu-hua-pa, Shun-chü has been repeatedly wrongly recorded thrice as Hsin-chü. For such a serious mistake in proof-reading, Liang T'ing-nan cannot be excused.