The bequeathing of property within a royal family is ostensibly a clean transfer governed by clear legal codes. In the case of the Ming imperial court, many assume that imperial collections were commonly gifted from the cosmopolitan capital to the peripheral princedoms. A long-standing hypothesis holds that the first Ming emperor, Hongwu (r. 1368–98) bestowed a collection of fourth- to fourteenth-century canonical paintings and calligraphies to his sons Zhu Gang (1358–98) and Zhu Tan (1370–89) upon their enfeoffment ceremonies, but a variety of legal and cultural practices could have muddled this seemingly straightforward transaction from father to son. This paper unravels the secret of princely art acquisitions in the early Ming. It challenges existing scholarship on the transmission patterns by examining both the alleged enfeoffment gifts from Hongwu as well as multiple art confiscations during the 1390s. Zhu Gang in fact did not receive most of the artworks from his father, but seized them from several deposed officials whose power and fortune had irritated the emperor. Utilizing Hongwu's messages to Zhu Gang, which reveal the dark side of imperial gifts and property appropriations, this paper integrates the study of political and legal histories into that of the early Ming princely collecting culture.

中文翻译：

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遗产或帝国暴力：明初王室艺术收藏的隐藏历史

王室内部财产的遗赠表面上是一种受明确法律法规约束的干净转移。在明朝朝廷的案例中，许多人认为皇家收藏品通常是从国际大都会赠送给周边诸侯国的。一个长期存在的假设认为，明朝第一任皇帝洪武（1368-98 年在位）将一系列 4 至 14 世纪的经典书画赠与他的儿子朱刚（1358-98 年）和朱檀（1370-98 年） 89）在他们的分封仪式上，但各种法律和文化习俗可能会混淆这种看似简单的父子交易。这篇论文揭开了明初王室艺术收购的秘密。它通过检查所谓的洪武分封赠与以及 1390 年代的多次艺术没收来挑战现有的关于传播模式的学术研究。事实上，朱刚的大部分作品并没有从他父亲那里得到，而是从几位被废黜的官员手中夺走了，这些官员的权势和财富激怒了皇帝。本文利用洪武给朱罡的告示，揭示了宫廷馈赠财产的阴暗面，将政法史的研究与明初王侯收藏文化的研究相结合。