Wiping the Dust at the Five-Hundred-Stone Grotto Heaven, Vol. 5

In the past two years, I have been traveling, and I have not truly had a single peaceful day to rest. I have been stuck, wasting time and running through the dust of the world on islands overseas. I do not know when I will be able to return home to follow the gentlemen, yet these four gentlemen, knowing my solitary nature, have vied to send me their portraits original: "小影" from afar, as if they were all of one mind. Seeing the moon fall on the roof beams, the colors seem familiar; the person is as if truly here amidst the autumn waters and reeds a reference to the "Classic of Poetry," implying deep longing. Can this not comfort my longing? I have therefore recorded it.

The sending of portraits as a way to seek friendship is a common practice among Westerners. Among our Chinese scholars and officials, keeping portraits as keepsakes has also been recorded by our predecessors, but these were meant for portraiture, not photography. Though my request for Master Lun-ting to use photography to capture these portraits and poems as gifts for others is an imitation of Western customs, these four gentlemen had already anticipated my intentions.

I formerly possessed thirty-seven leaves of original calligraphy in various styles by Master Lü Xicun of Tong'an. I had long wanted to carve them into stone, but lacked a skilled hand. During the provincial examination of the Guangxu reign name, 1893 cycle, I went to Fuzhou and met Chen Shoubo named Zonglie, style name Seventy-One. He possesses an "iron pen" an expert engraver and his seals are elegant, rounded, and refined, as if he inherited the school of Manweng the Qing dynasty seal carver Chen Hongshou. I asked him to make stone seals for me, and he produced over two hundred small ones, many of which are worth preserving. I then showed him the original Lü family calligraphy. The paper was thick, red-colored cocoon silk, and the text was written in gold mud powdered gold mixed with glue, with lines as dense as strings of pearls. Shoubo feared the difficulty and dared not take up the blade, so it was put aside. Over the years, I traveled while carrying the items in my case, never finding a match. Xu Lunting Yun was pleased to copy various calligraphic styles and was happy to carve them into stone.