徽宗和皇龍：探索皇權的物質文化

Huizong and the Imperial Dragon: Exploring the Material Culture of Imperial Sovereignty

本文經由對宋徽宗（1100 到1125 年在位）的個案分析來探究龍的皇權形象。徽宗把龍的形象應用在他所澆鑄的鐘鼎、印刷的紙張和雕刻的石頭上面。宋徽宗的《宣和畫譜》前所未有的把龍和魚歸為一類，其《博古圖》也對古代器具上龍的形象進行了很多討論。宋徽宗的兩個「雙龍」印章吸引了學界的注意，因為從古至今印章就一直與皇權有密切的聯繫，然而就其所在的時空而言，宋徽宗的雙龍印章一點也不符合傳統。首先，這些印章上面沒有雕刻文字，取而代之的是圖像，然而，這些圖像乍看似乎又像字符，因為圖像是由相互連接的彎曲線條組成的。此外，還有一個問題：為什麼是兩條龍，而不是一條龍？畢竟，皇帝是獨一無二的，在傳統中被稱為「一人」。本文將考察徽宗在設計雙龍印章時兩個可能的創新依據：他所收藏的金石拓片和他對道教符咒的興趣。這些印章啟發我們重新思考皇權的物質文化。皇帝之所以成為皇帝，靠的是一整套永恆不變的實踐和傳統。大部分和君王相關的龍的圖像代表了皇位。然而，皇帝同時又是一個個體，有自己的習慣、喜好、天賦和怪癖。在宋代的文人圈子中，印章是一個用來表達自我認同的普遍方式。宋徽宗找到了用龍這一皇位的符號來同時象徵他自己這一個體。這表明即使是在有如此支配性地位的皇權制度中，仍然存在個性化和創造性運用物質和視覺文化的空間。對於徽宗而言，龍的形象一方面把皇位和古代的權威連接起來，從而使其看起來高高在上；而另一方面又和大眾文化相關聯，從而變得易於接近。

This article examines the case of the Song emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1125) in order to explore the dragon as an imperial image in China. Huizong put images of dragons on the bells and cauldrons he had cast, paper he had printed, and stones he had inscribed. His paintings catalogue singled out those paintings of dragons and fish as a distinct category, something no earlier classification of paintings had done. His antiquities catalogue included numerous discussions of dragon imagery on ancient objects. Huizong’s two “double dragon” seals are given close attention, as seals are a material object with close ties to emperorship from early times. Huizong’s double-dragon seals were in no sense conventional for his time and place. First, they do not depict words or characters, but are pictures. Yet the pictures seem to resemble characters at first glance— they are made out of connected, curved lines. In addition, there is the question of why there are two dragons rather than one, despite the fact that the emperor was a singular individual, the “one man” of classical tradition. Two possible sources for Huizong’s innovation in the design of his double dragon seals are considered in this article: his collection of antiquity rubbings and his interest in Daoist talismans. These seals encourage us to think about the material culture of imperial sovereignty in a new way. What made the emperor an emperor was a set of practices and conventions that did not change each time a new ruler acceded to the throne. To work, they had to be timeless. Most of the dragon imagery connected to the throne represents the office of the emperor. Yet emperors were at the same time individual men, with personal habits, preferences, talents, and quirks. By Song times, personal seals were a common means of expressing individual identity among literati. Huizong found a way to take the dragon— the symbol of his office—and have it also function as a symbol of himself. This suggests that even with an institution as dominating as the imperial one, there was still room for more private, creative uses of material and visual culture. For Huizong, the image of the dragon played a part both in making the throne seem remote, linked to the authority of antiquity, and in making it approachable, linked to popular culture.