石渠寶笈三編(延春閣),第六冊,頁2698&*故宮書畫錄(卷一),第一冊,頁148-152&*虞集(西元一二七二-一三四八年),四川仁壽人。字伯生,虞允文五世孫。大德(一二九七-一三0六年)初,授大都路儒學教授,屢遷至奎章閣學士,封仁壽郡公。集學問博給,早歲闢二室讀書,左室書陶淵明詩於壁,題曰陶庵,右室書紹堯夫詩,題曰邵庵,故世稱邵庵先生。書史稱其書真、行、草、篆皆有法度,古隸為當代第一。 本幅行書尺牘,結字偏長,行筆秀健,近唐大家虞世南之風。虞集傳世墨跡極少,此牘彌足珍貴。 &* Yu Chi (style name Po-sheng) was a native of Jen-shou, Szechwan, and a fifth generation descendent of Yu Yun-wen. In the beginning of the Ta-te era (1297-1306), he was a professor in a Metropolitan Route Command Confucian school and was later on transferred to be an Academician in the Hall of Literature. He was also enfeoffed as Commandery Duke of Jen-shou. Vastly knowledgeable, Yu constructed two studying rooms in his early years. In the right room he wrote T’ao Yuan-ming poems on the wall; therrfore, it was called T’ao-an. In the left room Yu wrote Shao Yao-fu poems on the wall; thus it was called Shao-an. Calligraphy histories record that his standard, semi-cursive, cursive, and seal scripts all followed principles of calligraphy. His clerical script was ranked as the first of his time. This letter is in the semi-cursive script. The slightly long form of the characters and elegant and vigorous brushwork closely resemble the calligraphy style of the T’ang master Yu Shih-nan (558-638). There are few extant works by Yu, making this letter a valuable treasure.