功能与受众——明刊《西厢记》插图的榜题与题款研究

Functions and Audiences——A Study on“List Titles”and“Titles”of the Illustrations of“The Story of the West Chamber”in Ming Dynasty

“榜题”和“题款”概指画面中的文字说明。既有对明刊《西厢记》插图“榜题”和“题款”的研究,多从版画风格、文献价值等层面予以讨论,鲜有研究者对它们的功能与受众群体进行探讨。正是基于这一研究视角,分析并总结《西厢记》插图中榜题因“助读”叙事而存在,题款因“雅赏”体验而盛行的功能和规律,进而从文化认知的商品属性层面,探讨书坊主根据榜题和题款功能上的不同,分别预设两种不同的受众群体,前者服务于因粗识文墨而理解能力有限的市民读者,后者迎合了具备一定文化知识和经济实力的社会中上层读者的审美需求。

“List titles”and“titles”generally refer to the text description in the picture,which have been studied in the illustrations of“The Story of the West Chamber”from the aspects of printmaking style and literary value in the Ming Dynasty.However,few discussions have been made on their functions and audience groups.It is based on this research perspective,this paper aims to analyze and summarize the functions and laws as follows:in the illustrations of“The Story of the Western Chamber”,“list titles”make their existence due to their reading-aid effect,while“titles”win their popularity owing to“elegant appreciation”experience.From the perspective of the commodity attribute of cultural cognition,the paper further discusses that the bookstore owner presets two different audience groups according to the different functions of“list titles”and“titles”.The former serves the public readers who have limited understanding ability due to their rough literary knowledge,while the latter caters to the aesthetic needs of the upper-middle class readers with certain cultural knowledge and economic strength.