Letter to Xu Shangde

Signature:

Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (23 columns in semi-cursive script)

From your letter I learn that Fuxiu has passed away. I should like to have mourned for him personally, but the press of affairs does not allow me to fulfill my wish. How deeply lamentable it is that friends of old gradually dwindle, one by one. As I reflect upon my own decline, I wonder how much longer I can remain in this world.

Formerly Wu Kuan (1435–1504), who was an old hand at court, and the lofty gentleman Shen Zhou (1427–1509) passed away one after the other. Inaudibly, I mourned in sorrow, wondering whether the high character of the senior generation had not passed away too, leaving the men of younger generation with nothing to emulate. Now our group is also at a low ebb. These later day successors, upstarts just freshly arrived, have neither the virtue of self-deprecation nor the chance of becoming acquainted with the seniors. Might it not be the result of the prevailing spirit of this degenerate age? I touch upon this, and yet am indifferent within.

How do you find the book Jinkou liuren? Hope you can return it when you have finished copying it. Some time ago I collected and edited my papers, Tang’s Anthology (Tangshi Wenxuan), but the Censor Zhang Chengren borrowed it, and it has not been seen since. I do not know whether Zhaigan has a copy of it. Could you please ask Zhu Zidan (Zhu Chengjue, 1480–1527) for me, because I am getting together my past writings so that I might be remembered after my death. I hope that all my writings: the three volumes of the Sanshi zongqian, eight volumes of Tang’s Anthology, one volumes of the Mirror of Painting and Calligraphy (Shuhua shoujing), twenty volumes of Biographies of Generals and Ministers (Jiangxiang lu), two volumes of The Annual Festivals of the Wu Region (Wuzhong suishi ji), two volumes of Historical Discussions (Shi yi), and the six volumes of Discussions of Current Affairs (Shiwu lun) will be remembered by you. Someday, when I have followed Fuxiu to roam beneath the earth, I hope you will write of these works on my tombstone. If we should get to meet this writer, we ought to close out the year in merry laughter.

I write this letter in haste to send back with your messenger. I shall not relate anything further since I am in such a bad mood. On the same day.[1] [Signed] Yin.

寅頓首頓首。若容老兄翰學省示知浮休遷化，欲往哭之，事冗不克遂懷也。故人朋舊漸就凋落，深可嘅嘆，自度衰颯，又何能久世耶！昔者瓠庵閣老、石田高士相繼作古，余竊悲悼，以爲前輩風格頹委，使後生無所師法，令之[點去]我盟社亦復零落。新進後生既無謙謙之德，又不及接見前輩，豈發世風氣使然耶。言及于此中心恝然。《金口六壬》何如？鈔畢幸還之。僕舊集《唐氏文選》被張承仁御史借，沒不知宅幹鈔得否？幸為我轉問朱子儋有否，緣僕收拾舊所著書為身後計耳。僕舊著《三式揔鈐》三卷、《唐氏文選》八卷、《書畫手鏡》一卷、《將相錄》二十卷、《吳中嵗時記》二卷、《史議》四卷、《時務論》六卷，幸公識之，他日從浮休游於地下，幸書於壙側也。冬間出得相面，當劇笑以了殘年，使囘草率附白劣不多悉，即日寅頓首，頓首。若容老兄翰學

No artist’s seal

Label strip

Unidentified artist, 1 column in standard script, undated:

唐鲜元書

Collectors’ seals

An Qi 安岐 （1683–1742）
安儀周家珍藏

Pan Gongshou 潘恭壽 （1741–1794）
蓮樵曾觀

Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988)
顧洛阜
漢光閣

Unidentified
陳崐瑜藏
孫氏家藏
顧崧
枝安堂圖書印
介眉審定真跡

[1] 匏庵閣老即吴寬（1435–1504）。
[2] 子儋即朱承爵（1480–1527） 。

[1] Translation from Marc F. Wilson and K. S. Wong, Friends of Wen Cheng-ming: A View from the Crawford Collection. Exh. cat. New York: China Institute in America, 1974, pp. 72-75, cat. no. 10. Modified.

John M. Crawford Jr. American, New Yor (by 1974–1989); John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 2009.

Suzhou Museum. "The Art of Tang Yin," December 8, 2014–March 8, 2015.

Shih Shou-ch'ien, Maxwell K. Hearn, and Alfreda Murck. The John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Checklist. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984, p. 28, cat. no. 64.

Gu Fu 顧復. Pingsheng zhuangguan 平生壯觀 (The Great Sights of My Life). Preface dated 1692, juan 5 of calligraphy section. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 936.

Ouyang Zhongshi et al. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008, p. 452, fig. 10.11.