博
Artist: Wen Zhengming (1470-1559)
Date: Ming (1368-1644)
Material: Ink on paper
Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), also known by his zi (designated name) Zhongzheng and hao (literary name) Hengshan, was a native of Changzhou (in present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu province). He was one of the "Four Masters of the Ming" and, after Shen Zhou, the leader of the Wu School of painting. This letter was addressed to Zhu Chaqing (1524-1572), a member of the prominent Zhu family of Shanghai, and mentions the funerary inscription for Zhu Chaqing's father, Zhu Bao (whose family tomb was excavated in the present-day Liyuan Road area of Huangpu district, Shanghai). Zhu Chaqing, with zi Bangxian, was known as Huangpu Xiansheng. Zhu Chaqing was fond of book collecting and excelled in prose. The Wen and Zhu families frequently exchanged poetry and painting. The surviving works such as Wen Zhengming's scroll Preface to the Collection of Birthday Poems in running script and Wen Boren's album Seven Scenes of the Zhu Family testify to the close cultural interactions between the Songjiang and Wu regions.
