Eastern Culture Nucleus: Chinese Rare Books in the USC Libraries

Lithography 石印

Illustrations and Explanations of Ancient Bricks from the Qianpi Pavilion (Qianpiting guzhuan tushi 千甓亭古塼圖釋二十卷) consists of rubbings and commentaries of ancient brick inscriptions and motifs dated from the Han (202 BC to 220 AD) to Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. It was compiled and photolithographed in 1891 by Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 (1834-1894; courtesy name 字 Gangfu 剛甫), a renowned late Qing collector, bibliophile, scholar, and official. These ancient bricks were collected by Lu primarily from his hometown Gui'an 歸安 (present Huzhou 湖州 in Zhejiang 浙江 province) and surrounding areas and used to be kept in the Qianpi Pavilion 千甓亭, a pavilion dedicated to the brick collection in the front yard of his residence. Each commentary in the catalogue contains a detailed description of the dimension of the brick and an in-depth interpretation of the inscription(s). USC's copy was donated by Dr. Chow Tse-tsung 周策縱 (1916-2007), a world-famous scholar on the May Fourth Movement and The Dream of the Red Chamber(Hong lou meng 紅樓夢). The two ex libris seals 周振湘印 and 澹肰珍秘 on the caption title page (卷端頁) of the book come from Zhou Zhenxiang 周振湘 (literary name 號 Danweng 澹翁), a notable collector active during the Republican period.

Further Reading:

Other Fine Examples of Lithography Printing from the Chinese Rare Book Collection:

This page has paths:

  1. Techniques Tang Li

Contents of this path:

  1. Commentary and Corrections to the Sweated [Bamboo] Strips 汗簡箋正七卷 (1889)
  2. Poems [by Master of] the Baihua Jiangfu Pavilion 白華絳柎閣詩十卷 (1890)
  3. Inscription for the Stone Gate Pillars 石闕銘 (1900)
  4. Practice Tutorial to the Complete Explanation of Algebra 代數備旨全草 (1905)
  5. Ritual Bronze Inscriptions Compiled at the Jingwuxinshi Studio 敬吾心室彝器款識 (1908)
  6. Supplement A to the Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities 西清續鑑甲編二十卷 (1911)

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