石渠寶笈初編(養心殿),上冊,頁653&*故宮書畫錄(卷八),第四冊,頁79&*故宮書畫圖錄,第七冊,頁35-36&* 弘治戊午(一四九八),秋,唐寅中式南京解元。歲暮,附江陰舉人徐經船入京。己未(一四九九)二月,與會試。會試前,不盡力於舉業,頗事酬應。此畫所題是上元京城看鰲山燈,寅會試而後,挫折潦倒,未嘗再至京師,故此畫當作於斯際。此幅若加細審,款書出於雙鈎廓填,畫亦描摹之作,惟極精,非細審不能察。 &*1499/ T’ang Yin Conversation in the Women’s Apartments during the Lantern Festival/ In the autumn of 1498 T’ang Yin placed highest in the second-degree examination in Nanking. At the end of the year he journeyed to Peking on a boat owned by Hsü Ching, who had been recommended for the metropolitan examination from Chiang-yin. T’ang took the metropolitan exam for the chin-shih degree in the second month of 1499 but did not apply himself to his studies before the exam, preferring to lead an active social life. According to T’ang’s inscription on this painting, it was painted in the capital during the Lantern Festival (the 15th of the first lunar month). After he was disgraced at the examination (accused of cheating) and his hopes for an official career frustrated, he never went back to the capital. Therefore this painting must have been done in 1499. Examining the painting more closely, we find that the calligraphy was done by first drawing outlines and then filling them in with ink, i.e. it is a tracing copy. The painting itself is also a copy. The whole is so finely executed that only minute examination reveals the marks of a copyist. &*1.江兆申,〈唐寅燈宵閨話 軸〉,收入國立故宮博物院編,《吳派畫九十年展》(臺北:國立故宮博物院,1975年初版,1976年再版,1981年三版),頁300。