Yutai shushi 玉臺書史

Yutai shushi 玉臺書史 "History of calligraphers from the Jade Terrace" is a history of female calligraphers written by Li E 厲鶚 (1692-1752), courtesy name Taihong 太鴻, style Fanxie 樊榭, from Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang. His collected works are called Fanxie Shanfang ji 樊榭山房集. He also wrote the poetry history Songshi jishi 宋詩紀事, the arts book Nansong yuanhua lu 南宋院畫錄, and the history book Liaoshji shiyi 遼史拾遺.

The Yutai shushi is divided into seven categories according to the social status of the artists, namely palace women (gongwei 宮闈), Daoist nuns (nüxian 女仙), ladies of note (mingyuan 名媛), ladies-in-waiting (jishi 姬侍), famous courtesans (mingji 名妓 or 名伎), persons with supernatural skills (lingyi 靈異), and miscellaneous notes (zalu 雜錄). Inside the categories, the chapters are arranged chronologically. They provide the biographies of 211 artists and discuss their skills. Li's book is not only interesting from the aspect of arts, but also because it provides interesting insight into the social life of female calligraphers through history.

The text is found in the series Shuoku 說庫, Ciyantang congshu xinbian 賜硯堂叢書新編, Zhaodai congshu 昭代叢書, Yishu congshu 藝術叢書 and Xiangyan congshu 香艷叢書.