BOOK REVIEWS
217
fourteen centuries (i.e. from the 7th century, the period of the beginning of the grand romance of the Lan-t'ing Preface, to less than ten years ago?) evaporates in the presence of the magical magnificence of the calligraphy. By religiously translating every single word of the miscellaneous writing on the Lan-t'ing as collected in the KKYL by Wang Tso, Sir Percival David became the first Englishman to dive into the dark waters of the mystery of the cult of Lan-t'ing. The translation reads well, even if no attempt is made to ease the task for the English reader of identifying personages referred to by multifarious names and titles. A great deal of patience and labour must have gone into the translation of this long section which can only have minimum appeal to the general reader but will be useful to the specialist student who wishes to explore the more esoteric subjects of Chinese art—although the student must also expect to do some homework before he or she can achieve full understanding of the stories told in this section. Similar criticism can be applied to other sections of the book which are mainly Wang Tso's additions. They deal with such subjects as imperial patents, imperial seals, and wandering spirits.
The reviewer must not give the impression that there are no notes at all; but that many more notes are required to make such a strange (in the sense of being foreign) book intelligible to the English reading public which, though large in numbers, is not and cannot be generally familiar with China of the 14th century and before. Of the notes which are given, some are useful, such as that on "hsi-p'i" lacquer on pp. 145-6.
All in all, the most accomplished production of the book contrasts sharply with the unfinished nature of its contents. And this brings us back to the cautionary remark made earlier, that the book must be judged as an unfinished work. With this work, Sir Percival David has taken English scholarship in Chinese art history to the verge of a new level of understanding. It is hoped that a new generation of scholars will follow the path that he has shown.
As a postscript, it may be mentioned that the plates, chosen by Mr. Basil Gray who has otherwise done excellent work in preparing the book for printing, do not relate too well to the subject matters dealt with in the book. Again, to perform this task satisfactorily, it would have been necessary to do a great deal of research into the kind of objects which would go into the collection of a Ming scholar.
BOOK REVIEWS
217
fourteen centuries (i.e. from the 7th century, the period of the be ginning of the grand romance of the Lan-t'ing Preface, to less than ten years ago?) evaporates in the presence of the magical magnificence of the calligraphy. By religiously translating every single word of the miscellaneous writing on the Lan-t'ing as collected in the KKYL by Wang Tso, Sir Percipal David became the first Englishman to dive into the dark waters of the mystery of the cult of Lan-t'ing. The translation reads well, even if no attempt is made to ease the task for the English reader of identifying personages referred to by multifarious names and titles. A great deal of patience and labour must have gone into the translation of this long section which can only have minimum appeal to the general reader but will be useful to the specialist student who wishes to explore the more exoteric subjects of Chinese art-although the student must also expect to do some homework before he or she can achieve full understanding of the stories told in this section. Similar criticism can be applied to other sections of the book which are mainly Wang Tso's additions. They deal with such subjects as imperial patents, imperial seals and wandering spirits.
The reviewer must not give the impression that there are no notes at all; but that many more notes are required to make such a strange (in the sense of being foreign) book intelligible to the English reading public which, though large in numbers, is not and cannot be generally familiar with China of the 14th century and before. Of the notes which are given, some are useful, such as that on "hsi-p'i” lacquer on pp. 145-6.
All in all, the most accomplished production of the book con- trasts sharply with the unfinished nature of its contents. And this brings us back to the cautionary remark made earlier, that the book must be judged as an unfinished work. With this work Sir Percival David has taken English scholarship in Chinese art history to the verge of a new level of understanding. It is hoped that a new gen- eration of scholars will follow the path that he has shown.
As a postscript, it may be mentioned that the plates, chosen by Mr. Basil Gray who has otherwise done excellent work in preparing the book for printing, do not relate too well to the subject matters dealt with in the book. Again, to perform this task satisfactorily it would have been necessary to do a great deal of research into the kind of objects which would go into the collection of a Ming scholar
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