Footnotes on the English Translation of “A Narrative on Calligraphy” Part VI
(98, 99). 代有《筆陣圖》七行 – “代” is used here in place of “世(Currently in our times)”. Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizong’s name was “李世民”, and so it was a taboo (諱) to write any character in his name explicitly during the Tang Dynasty.
Bizhentu《筆陣圖》is a renowned document regarding Chinese calligraphic techniques composed by Wei Shuo (衛鑠 or衛夫人), Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy teacher.
(100). 中畫執筆三手 – “三” here may mean “多數或多次(many or multiple times)” not necessary “three” , “手” does not mean “hand” in this context and should be interpreted as “手法(approaches)”. Therefore, “Three pictures of hands” (Chang and Frankel, Two Chinese Treatises on Calligraphy, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1995 :7) or “three hands holding a brush” (De Laurentis, The Manual of Calligraphy by Sun Guoting of the Tang, Napoli: Universita degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", 2011:50) cannot be applied to interpret this sentence.