Letter to Abbot Zhongfeng (As If in a Drunken Dream)

Zhao Mengfu (style name Ziang, sobriquet Songxue daoren) was a native of Wuxing in Zhejiang. A scion of the Song imperial family, he was recruited by and took up office under the following Yuan dynasty as a Hanlin Academician. He excelled at calligraphy as well as painting, becoming one of the most respected masters of his time and a leader of Yuan dynasty art circles. This is a letter than Zhao Mengfu wrote to the high Buddhist monk Zhongfeng Mingben (1263-1323). The two had met during the Dade reign (1297-1307), and Zhao and his wife became his disciples. In the Yanyou sixth year (1319), Zhao quit office and returned to the south, his wife falling ill and passing away in Shandong. The album Calligraphy of the Zhao Clan in the National Palace Museum includes eleven letters by members of Zhao's family mostly asking Zhongfeng respectfully to lead funerary rites for Zhao's wife. Each of the characters reveals personal feelings, this work being no exception. The brushwork throughout is refined and written with concentrated spirit and archaic spirit harmony, falling squarely within the tradition of the Jin dynasty master.