石渠寶笈三編(延春閣),第四冊,頁1791&*故宮書畫錄(卷五),第三冊,頁328&*故宮書畫錄,第六冊,頁235-236&* 沈周,字啟南,號石田,又稱白石翁,江蘇長洲人,生於明宣宗宣德二(公元一四二七)年,死在武宗正德四(公元一五○九)年。為人寬厚有大度。能詩文,工書法,又善畫,山水、花果、禽、魚、走獸、人物,樣樣俱能,作品造型稚拙,用筆鈍勁,用墨厚重,予人一種質重有力、古趣盎然的感覺。後人將他與文徵明、唐寅、仇英尊為「明四大家」,合稱「沈文唐仇」。&*Winter plums in a Jar Shen Chou (1427-1509) Ming Dynasty Shen Chou (tzu Ch’i-nan, hao Shih-t’ien and Pai-shih-weng) was a native of Ch’ang-chou in Kiangsu. He was known for his extremely generous nature. An accomplished scholar, he was an able poet, essayist, and calligrapher as well as an excellent painter. His painting repertoire included landscape, flowers and fruits, birds, fish, animals, and figures; all were handled with equal skill. His style was naïve and awkward, his handling of the brush blunt and forceful, the ink thick and heavy; the impression conveyed is one of sincerity, vigor, and fulness. Later critics called him one of the “Four Great Masters of the Ming”, grouping him with Wen Cheng-ming, T’ang Yin, and Ch’iu Ying. His style was pivotal in transforming the calligraphic experiments of the Yüan masters into the more colorful, relaxed idiom of the Ming.