百苗图各抄本所见印信研究

Study on the Seals in Handwritten Copies of “Illustrations of Miao People”

《百苗图》是研究贵州各世居民族历史文化的重要图志文献,目前传世抄本众多,最早的抄本可以上溯到清嘉道年间,最晚的抄本则迟至20世纪中期。若能按时间顺序,就其所书和所绘内容做系统对比,就不难发现贵州各世居民族历史文化演变的基本脉络。若要准确考定各抄本的传抄时间和地理位置,书中所见印信自然具有不可替代的佐证价值。遗憾的是,传世的各抄本中,仅有一部分保留有印信。这些印信大多为篆文雕刻,加上复印件和出版版本印文不免模糊难辨,因而识读和考证工作难度很大。但通过认真识读和考订,大多数印信印文,基本可以考明持有者的人名和身份,所获信息可以为考订相关各抄本的传抄人、传抄时间、传抄地点提供有力的证据。

＂Illustrations of Miao People＂ is an important pictorial document in studying the history and culture of aboriginal ethnicities in Guizhou. Of various handwritten copies available the earliest one can be traced back to the Jiadao Era of the Qing Dynasty while the lat- est one the mid -20th century. It is not hard to find out the basic skeleton of historic and cultural evolution of Guizhou＇ s aboriginal ethnicities based on a systematic study of the contents revealed by the illustrations in a chronological order. It is argued that the seals can play an irreplaceable role in aceurately ensuring when and where each hand- written copy was done. Unfortunately there are only parts of seals left in these copies a- vailable. Most of these seals are engraved with Zhuanwen （ seal script）, which, com- bined with photocopies and diverse editions, make it hard to read and examine the works concerned. Yet, with painstaking work most of the seal holders＇ names and i- dentities in relation to the seals and documents can be confirmed, and the information can serve as favorable evidence for scribes, scribing times and scribing places.