烫印的破绽:由马臀烫印质疑波士顿本《胡笳十八拍》册之版本年代

Branded Horses: A Discussion of the Boston Folio of Hujia shiba pai tu in Light of Horse Brands

本文由“马臀烫印”对波士顿本之版本年代、成画时间、描绘族别等问题进行检视。研究结果显示.波本烫印字样暴露出鉴识学上的破绽.此一破绽不仅提供了理据确凿的关键性证据,亦足以推翻前人对波本既有的版本认识。作为“祖本”——波本之马臀烫印出现了不该出现的讹误字样,而所谓的“摹本”——台北故宫本之烫印字样却悉数正确,这暗示波本既非刘商谱系本之祖本原型,亦非台北本之底本.台北本很可能才是成画年代更早、更为精确之南宋古本。其次.波本应非如前人所认定绘成于北宋中晚期或南宋初年,其成画年代应下推至南宋中晚期。再者,波本绘有1119年后始见于历史之女真字{(?)}烫印,这是判定该本描绘对象之族属必为女真族(而非契丹族)的最佳证明。

The author examines the Boston version or edition of the folio painting Hujia shiba pai Th tu in the light of 'the brands on the flanks of the horses' in order to determine the date of the pa Boston version, when the painting was completed, and the elements in the work enabling us to determine the ethnicity depicted in the work. The study revealed that the brands provide the breakthrough in the authentication of the work and incontrovertible evidence that overturns previously held views on the Boston painting. The incorrect characters in the horse-brands show the Boston version of the painting to not be 'the ancestral version', and the correct characters in the horse-brands in the Taipei version of the painting show it to be a genuine copy. Moreover, if the Boston version or edition is not the ancestral work of the Liu-Shang family versions nor did it provide the original (diben) for the Taipei copy. The Taipei version is probably the earliest extant painting, and a masterpiece of the Southern Song Dynasty. Consequently, the Boston version could not be a mid-late Northern Song or early Southern Song work, as earlier authentication authorities have argued, but is instead a mid-late Southern Song piece. Moreover, the Boston work contains a N u zhen 0urchen) horse-brand that only made its appearance after the year 1119, and this is the clearest demonstration that the ethnic group depicted in the painting was the N ii zhen, and not the Qidan (Khitan).