元代法书鉴赏家回回人阿里的国书印

The Collection Seal of the Muslim Calligraphic Connoisseur Ali of the Yuan Dynasty

在东晋王羲之《奉橘帖》和《平安帖》(图一),其子王献之《中秋帖》(图二),以及唐释怀素《苦笋帖》(图三),还有吴彩鸾书《唐韵》(图四),这5件法书上钤有同一方元国书印(见附图)。《晋唐以来书画家鉴藏家款印谱Ⅰ》一书收录此印文字(见371页0581号),但未作考释。印体形状为长方,印文为八思巴字篆体,字形结构在相应楷体字母的篆体中属最简单的形式(图五)、其字母用我们的拉丁符号转写是’a-li,两个音节,一个词。这是阿拉伯语词,阿文里作‘Ali,表示“最高,崇高”之义,这里是人名。这个词在汉籍文献里有相应两个译音汉字。第一个字是“阿”,因为在《蒙古字韵》

One and the same Yuan dynasty collection seal can be found on Wang Xizhi's Fengju-tie and Ping' antie, Wang Xianzhi's Zhongqiutie, Huisu's Kusuntie, and Wu Cailuan'sTangyun. The characters of the seal are recorded in Collectors' Inscriptions and Seals sincethe Jin and Tang Dynasties but without any explanation. According to the author of thisessay, the seal written in the Basba language shows a person's name whose Chinese transla-tion would be 'Ali'. However, 'Ali' was a very common name in the Yuan dynasty, andthere are a dozen Ali in the History of the Yuan Dynasty only. Nine of these Ali could bethe same owner of this seal according to the author, who gives the literature that refers totheir official positions.