Page 99 - Christies Alsdorf Collection Part 1 Sept 24 2020 NYC

The calligrapher and painter Zhang Ruitu truly embodied all the qualities of a 明代書法家、畫家張瑞圖（1570-1641）是中國古代文人精
traditional Chinese literati artist. He was academically accomplished and placed third 神的代表， 萬曆三十五年探花及第，歷任朝廷高官，卻終
in the imperial civil service examination held during the thirty-fifth year of the Wanli 因捲入魏忠賢（1568-1627）閹黨一案遭罷黜。無論官場沈
reign (1607) and so was awarded the title of tanhua. He held various high government 浮，張瑞圖始終被視為明代最有創造性、最為杰出的書法家
posts until he suffered an ignominious forced-retirement after he was implicated in the 之一。
corruption charges against the once-powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568-1627).
此精美冊頁《別有天地》即為張瑞圖之手筆，其上款人為朱
The recipient of this album by Zhang Ruitu was a literatus named Zhu Wan, whose
完，字季美，號白岳。據《書史會要》卷九所載：朱完，「
sobriquet was Jimei and style name Baiyue. According to Shushi huiyao, he was a
萬曆（1573-1620）時人。隸書嚴整，清勁獨步一時，楷書
distinguished calligrapher of clerical script and was active during the Wanli reign
作顏體，行草亦佳。」儘管《別有天地》作於1625年，張
(1573-1620). He was also well-regarded for his fine cursive and standard script, which
瑞圖亦未於作品中說明他與朱完之間的關係，但此冊頁品質
he modeled after Yan Zhenqing (709-985). While we do not know Zhang Ruitu’s
精美，書法及繪畫的水準亦是非凡，或許承載了長公對已
relationship with Zhu Wan, nor do we know the circumstance under which the album
was created or commissioned, it is possible if unusual for a work of art to be dedicated 故先人的懷念之情。冊頁中一共收錄十一首詩文，當中只
to a recipient who has passed away in memoriam. Of the eleven poems written in this 有一首為張瑞圖所創作，其餘十首則摘錄引用自中國歷代上
album, only one is an original by Zhang Ruitu. The authors of the texts in sequential 至文壇巨擘之作、下至鮮為人知的文學作品，其作者依序

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