玉史衍化与“美术考古”——论沈从文的中国古玉研究

The Transformation of Jade History and the Art Archeology: Shen Congwen’s Studies on Ancient Chinese Jade

沈从文于1949年8月由北大转入历史博物馆,即开始自行研究中国古玉,同时在中央美术学院讲授"中国玉工艺"。这批研究成果长期淹没不彰,直到2002年《沈从文全集》出版才得以问世。其中,沈从文利用前人文献和新出土实物,考述古玉的出处、出产及向中土的运输方式,也述及其映射的中西交通文化史问题,使这一问题显现为"一连串的历史事实"。他分疏玉史衍化的几个典型过程,辩证处理研究中的玩玉经验与历史知识,颇能翻出新意。他演述雕玉工艺,张扬商周雕玉艺术意境上的雄秀活泼与价值上的自由精神,在物质文化研究"史"的范围之外,又拓宽了"美"的新领域,其究心"美术考古",结合中国文化史谈中国美术史,丰富了文史研究的范围,形成了不仅考订历史,而且彰显艺术的治学特色。他承接民国以来出土实物与文献互证的"二重证据法",又出于己意以"联系和发展上下前后四方求索方法",考订古玉多种疑难问题,使不少看似难解甚或不可解的现象豁然以明,堪称方法论的创新。其成果虽因历史原因失载于相关的学术史著述,但在学术上的突出贡献是不应被忽视的。

Soon after Shen Congwen changed from Peking University to the Chinese History Museum in August 1949,he began to engage himself in studying the Chinese ancient jade.In the same period,he taught"Techniques of Chinese Jade"at the Central Academy of Art.However,the results from this study remained unknown for a long time,till it has been published in the Complete Works of Shen Congwen in 2002.In this manuscript,Shen undertook a detailed survey on the provenience and production of the ancient Chinese jade.Concerning jade’s transportation to the Middle China,he discussed also the questions about cultural communication between China and the western regions and correlated the once isolated anecdotes into"a series of historic facts."By analyzing typical processes of jade history and critically treating entrepreneur’s enterprise and historic knowledge,he was able to reveal new insights.While discussing the techniques of jade carving,he paid attention to the art style and free spirit of the Shang and Zhou times.He extended therefore the history of material culture to the new field of the aesthetique.With his interest in the art archeology Shen talked about the Chinese cultural history in combination with the Chinese art history and so enriched the artistic aspects of history studies.Following the traditional method of twofold confirmation by means of combining unearthed artefacts and source materials,he developed his own"method of all-round searching".Owing to this methodological innovation,his critical study makes clear some hitherto difficult questions,and even unsolvable problems.Although this work of Shen was not taken into notice by scholarship history,its contribution should not be neglected.