牡丹花谱中的品第秩序与礼仪建构

On the Hierarchical Order and Ceremonial Construction of Peony Flower-book

中华文化有品鉴百花和为花作谱的传统。牡丹在这一文化“大传统”中,享有至高的品第和礼仪。系统梳理唐末至清代各类牡丹花谱,牡丹的品第与礼仪源自历代士绅的建构,其从山野中的木芍药变为百花秩序中的“一品”和“花王”,并在品赏时适用九锡之礼,其背后蕴含传统等级秩序的思想文化逻辑。

There has been a tradition of judging,writing about and arranging the hierarchical order of flowers among Chinese elites,in which peony has won the highest fame of hierarchy and rituals.By combing various peony flower books from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty,it is founol that the hierarchical order and rituals of peony in practice,both of which derive from the scholars′cognition.The paper argues that peony,evolving from wild paeonia lactiflora into the noblest or the king of all flowers,should be honored with the ritual of Jiu Xi(nine sacrificial vessels),behind which Chinese traditional logic of ranking can be reflected.