Letter

Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (9 columns in semi-cursive script)

….. It made me shudder with unnecessary worries over our declining nation. They are people in high places. What could a commoner [like me] know! Mengyang [Cheng Jiasui, 1565–1644] was willing to purchase very expensive ink to paint for you on a whim at night, which shows his lofty mind and deep affection. I am about to hold a birthday party for my son who is turning one month (or one year) old. Please forgive me that you alone have not doted on [met] him. I’d like to send a maid to your mother [wife?] for some leftover silk to make new clothes for my son to brighten up the occasion for the well-wishers. It will not only assume an air of elegance of your eminent family but also initiate the grace you will bestow on him to continue the tie between our two families. Submitted by Jue.

[Trans. by Shi-yee Liu]

續三詩，令人悚然，以杞憂而虞板蕩，彼處堂燕，雀奚知焉。孟陽夜肯發興甚妙，十金買墨，見兄高情厚誼也。玨洗兒已近湯餅之會，翁獨不得寵，臨為歉耳。小婢欲就太夫人丐殘帛剩錦，為此兒製衣，以光賀客，不惟沾染高門秀氣，亦以再世通家為此兒受恩拜賜之始耳。附凟主臣玨奏記。


Artist's seal

Song Jue zhi yin 宋玨之印


Collector's seal

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

John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.

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. 37, cat. no. 119.