In this album describing a scholar’s stroll in the village during sunset, Zheng alluded to the story of the meeting of Jiang Ziya and King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty (1121-476 BCE). In this story, Jiang Ziya lamented that finally a ruler with insight noticed his existence. This album has the collector seal of Jin Nong, one of the Yangzhou Eccentrics who was also known for his individualistic clerical script.Zheng Fu was a native of Jiangsu who was also named Ruqi and called Gukou. By profession, he was a Chinese doctor. He excelled in writing in the clerical script and based his calligraphy on the foundation of the Han-clerical script, breaking away from the prevailing convention of the Tang clerical script. His clerical script is said to be modulated and moist with many flaring diagonals. Through his unique style, Zheng has added a sense of liveliness to a sombre-looking script originally used for official documentation in the Qin (221-207 BCE) and Han (206 BCE-220 CE) dynasties. His followers included Gao Fenghan (1683-1748) and Zheng Xie (1693-1765), both part of the Yangzhou Eccentrics group of artists.
