Letter

A child prodigy, Wang Zhideng could do large character calligraphy at the age of six and compose poetry at ten. Best known for his monumental clerical or seal-script frontispieces for handscrolls, he wrote this letter to a friend in the more informal running-cursive script. In the letter, Wang relates that he has fulfilled the friend's request for a colophon to enhance the appeal of a certain scroll and, in addition, was presenting him with a gift of six carp to help him recover from illness. Wang's affection for his friend is underscored by the fact that he wrote this letter in the freezing cold on a snowy day when he was ill himself.

Wang, who spent most of his life in Suzhou, here follows the calligraphic style of Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), the influential leader of Suzhou's artistic circle of two generations earlier. Wang's characters are tall and slightly pinched. Lacking the strength and bold rhythmic gestures of his model, his brushwork nonetheless impresses the viewer with its graceful ease and natural finesse as evident in the gentle fluctuations of the individual strokes. In addition to the speed and casualness of the writing, Wang's illness may also explain certain cursoriness in its execution.