Huang Bosi (1079–1118; an alternative account gives 1073–1112) was a Northern Song scholar, calligrapher, epigraphist, and poet. His courtesy name was Changrui; he also used Changru as a courtesy name and Xiaobin as a style name, and adopted the sobriquet Yunlinzi. He was from Shaowu, in present-day Fujian.
Life
Huang Bosi was a grandson of Huang Lü and the son of Huang Yingqiu; his father-in-law was Zhang Gen. His sons were Huang Zhao and Huang 䚮, and his son-in-law was Zou Xiang. Devoted to reading from childhood, he had a broad command of the Classics, histories, the philosophical schools, and miscellaneous writings. In learning he looked to Yang Xiong, in prose to Liu Zongyuan, and in poetry to Li Bai.
In the third year of Yuanfu (1100), he passed the Presented Scholar examination. One account says that he first received a high result in the qualifying examination and was appointed Judicial Assistant in Cizhou, later serving as Household Registrar in Tongzhou, Assistant Household Officer in Henan, and Secretary in the Palace Library; another says that he entered office through hereditary privilege and served in county and prefectural posts. Deng Xunwu, Grand Commissioner of the Western Capital, appointed him to the Right Military Patrol Office; the post is also identified as the Left Military Patrol Office of Kaifeng Prefecture. He then served as a compiler for the determination of the Jiuyu tuzhi and was promoted to Collator in the Palace Library and Secretary in the Palace Library; his offices also included the Palace Administration post of Chamberlain for the Imperial Carriages.
Accounts differ over his death: one places it in the second year of Zhenghe (1112), another in the second month of the eighth year (1118); both state that he was forty.
Scholarship and art
He read extensively in the palace library and became known for his erudition. He studied ancient and unusual scripts, could identify and correct inscriptions on ancient bronzes, and corrected Wang Zhu's continuation of the Xu Zheng Fatie. He was especially accomplished in epigraphy and the study of calligraphy and painting: he examined their images and inscriptions, assessed their merits and defects, and distinguished genuine from spurious works, making many original observations; he practiced several script styles, with a manner marked by the Wei-Jin tradition, and was also accomplished in poetry and prose.
His interests extended to the Classics, historiography, oracle-bone script, epigraphic studies, connoisseurship of calligraphy and painting, book collecting, and classical prose. He was associated in discussions of learning with Zhang Gen, Zhang Shangying, Zhang Shunmin, Li Pengju, Mi Fu, and Dong You. Li Gang wrote his epitaph, while Lou Yue and Xu Han wrote related colophons; Huang also engraved the cap inscription of the epitaph of Zhao, wife of Fu Shoucheng.
Works
He is credited with Fatie kanwu and Yanji tu. Fatie kanwu survives, although its length is given as one or two juan. A 100-juan Dongguan wenji is said to be lost; a separate catalogue entry lists a 50-juan Wenji and a one-juan Yisao.
Dongguan yulun appears with differing lengths—two juan, three juan, two juan with one juan of appendices, and ten juan. One account treats it as Huang's work, while another says that his son Huang 䚮 compiled it from Huang's inscriptions and colophons on metalwork, calligraphy, and painting; both two- and ten-juan versions are described as extant.
References
- CBDB Huang Bosi (7030)
- 搜韵 黃伯思 (34473)
- Wikidata Huang Bosi (Q11175975)