Notes on Reading Paintings at Sheng-Zhai; Record of Famous Chinese Paintings Seen Overseas

Zhu Shengzhai immersed himself in calligraphy and painting throughout his life, once asking Chen Julai to carve a seal for him: "Late to know that calligraphy and painting are truly beneficial, yet regretting that the remaining years are few."

He adopted the style of Sun Chengze's *Gengzi Xiaoxia Ji* and Gao Shiqi's *Jiangcun Xiaoxia Lu* from the Qing Dynasty to critique and appreciate the famous paintings and calligraphy he encountered. He researched their origins and recorded their dimensions, colophons, and seals by later generations. His writing is concise and his records detailed, bringing each work of art vividly to life before the reader's eyes.

*Notes on Reading Paintings at Sheng-Zhai* consists of Zhu Shengzhai's connoisseurship notes on authentic works by masters since the Tang and Song dynasties. It includes transcriptions of colophons and inscriptions from masterpieces, covering works from his own collection like Xiang Shengmo's *Zhaoyin Tu* and Wen Zhengming's *Guanshan Jixue Tu*. It also features chapters on works once held in Zhang Daqian’s Da Feng Tang collection, such as Dong Beiyuan's *Xiao Xiang Tu* and Gu Hongzhong's *The Night Revels of Han Xizai*. These records capture the scene of Zhang Daqian appreciating, collecting, and trading ancient calligraphy and paintings in Hong Kong and Japan during the 1950s. Upon the book's completion, Zhang Daqian painted *A Scholar Reading Paintings* specifically for the cover, with the inscription: "Painted this for my elder brother Shengzhai as his *Notes on Reading Paintings* was completed. Your younger brother, Zhang Yuan."

*Record of Famous Chinese Paintings Seen Overseas* is similarly a collection of essays on the appreciation of ancient Chinese painting. It covers private collections Zhu Shengzhai saw in the Kansai region of Japan in 1953. Introduced by Shimada Shujiro of the Kyoto Museum, he visited the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts: "Observing for three days, I was able to fully view 160 masterpieces from the Liang, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—truly one of the greatest pleasures of my life.