Period: Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE)
Measurements: L. 30 cm, H. 113 cm
Provenance: from Henan Provincial Library

Hanging scroll, ink on paper. The seven-character jueju expresses the poem’s depression by the life experience and the helplessness for his unfulfilled ambitions, with two intaglio or engraved seals at the end of it.
Lin Zexu (1785-1850), courtesy name Yuan Fu, and Shao Mu, Shi Lin, art name Sicun Laoren, Sicun Tuisou, etc., a native of Houguan county, Fujian, a statesman, scholar, thinker, and national hero in the late Qing dynasty. Lin traveled quite a lot places in his life, was politically meritorious. Though he had ever engaged in fought against Western invasions in Guangdong and Guangxi, he was open to Western culture, technology, and trade, and he advocated learning and adopting the best from the West. The works Encyclopedia of Four Continents compiled by Lin and the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms by Wei Yuan were of enlightening for the Westernization Movement in the late Qing dynasty and even the Meiji Restoration in Japan.