郭 枻(1883-1974)，字彝民，別號則生，吉林長春縣人。郭氏畢業於日本東京帝國大學(The Imperial University)，同儕中結識許多官紳，如曾任日本首相的佐藤榮作等。1932年郭氏就任中國駐橫濱總領事，並於34年受命為駐台北總領事，直到1937年戰爭爆發撤離。旅台期間，與士紳交往頻繁，板橋林家的林熊徵、霧峰林家的林獻堂、張秀哲等皆有往來。1947年任駐日專門委員，翌年為駐日代表團僑務處副處長，國共內戰後自外交部退休，定居日本，直至70年代移居美國與家人團聚，不久長辭。

其詩詞造詣極深，文藝素養豐厚，退休後以七十餘高齡於出版《留東詩存》，其版本可見於密西根大學圖書館。與前監察院長張維翰，考試院副院長羅家倫、外交部長長葉公超，立法委員彭醇士等時有唱和之作。據其友人黃天才先生回憶，1952年，在「二戰」敗戰投降的日本議訂「中日和約」後，郭彝民曾將自己作的一首步李鴻章「馬關條約」詩寄給外交代表葉公超，一舒胸中情懷，求賦詩和唱。

郭彝民精通日語，與日本上流社會交情甚篤，在藝術事業上也不遺餘力。據朱省齋在香港出刊的雜誌上寫提到，張大千與他本託日本友人與蘇軾《黃州寒食詩帖》日本持主妥協以美金3000元轉讓之，遂在大千先生抵日前兩天，「台灣王雪艇（王世杰）所知，立電駐日代表團郭則生，益以一百五十金而先落其手中矣。」故今見《黃州寒食詩帖》後有其題跋，交代有關細節。

郭氏所藏中國書畫，多購於旅居期間，得自當地著名鑑藏家，如台灣林氏、日本澄懷堂等，粹出各家，匯於一堂。其長子繼承後，挑選30餘件於1975年3月3至21日在美國柯爾蓋特大學皮克美術館(Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University)展出，如晚明文壇領袖李夢陽行書手卷，亦有唐寅、文徵明、董其昌等明諸家書跡等，廣蒐博採，秘藏數十載，香港蘇富比很榮幸承蒙家族委託，分批呈獻，以饗藏家，望識者珍寶之。

參考書目:
黃天才：《政壇裡的狷介書生——從葉公超的一首中文古體詩談起》，載於《文訊》，2011年，頁31-37
黃天才:《天公證實：關鍵人郭則生：就是郭彞民！——獨家首曝〈寒食帖〉日臺流傳的相關焦點人物》，典藏古美術，2011年11月，頁192-199

Y ee Kuo (1883-1974), courtesy name Yee-ming (Yimin) and sobriquet Tse-sheng (Zesheng), was born in Changchun, Jilin province. Kuo graduated from the Imperial University in Tokyo, where he made the acquaintance of many officials of his generation, including former Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō. In 1932, Kuo became the Consul General of China in Yokohama, and he served as Consul General in Taipei from 1934 until war broke out in 1937. During his time in Taiwan, he interacted often with the elite, including Lin Hsiung-cheng of the Banqiao Lin Family and Lin Hsien-tang and Chang Hsiu-che from the Wufeng Lin Family. In 1947, he served as a special committee member in Japan, and the following year, he became the deputy chief of the Overseas Chinese Office of the Delegation in Japan. After the Chinese Civil War, he retired from the diplomatic service and settled in Japan, where he stayed until he moved to the United States to be with family in the 1970s. He passed away not long thereafter.

Yee-ming Kuo was an accomplished poet with a deep appreciation for culture. In his 70s, after he retired, he published Selected Poems from Sojourns in the East (Liudong shicun). His copy is now held in the University of Michigan Library. He occasionally had poetic exchanges with former president of the Control Yuan Chang Wei-han, vice president of the Examination Yuan Luo Jialun, Minister of Foreign Affairs George Kung-chao Yeh, and Legislative Yuan member Peng Chunshi. According to his friend Huang Tiancai, in 1952, after the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty that ended World War II (also known as the Treaty of Taipei), Kuo sent his response to Li Hongzhang’s poem on the Treaty of Shimonoseki to Foreign Minister George Kung-chao Yeh. Kuo often sought to express his emotions through poetry.

Yee-ming Kuo spoke fluent Japanese, and he had many friends in Japanese high society. He was also very active in the art world. In an article published in a Hong Kong magazine, Zhu Shengzhai wrote that Zhang Daqian and his Japanese friend reached an agreement with the Japanese owner of Su Shi’s Huangzhou Cold Food Festival Copybook (Huangzhou hanshi shitie), now under the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, to sell the piece for US$3,000. Two days before Zhang Daqian’s arrival, ‘as far as Wang Hsüeh-t’ing (Wang Shih-chieh) knows, Tse-sheng Kuo (Yee-ming Kuo) of the Delegation in Japan, swooped in and got his hands on it first for $150.’ Huangzhou Cold Food Festival Copybook still bears Kuo’s inscription explaining all the details.

Kuo purchased many of these works of Chinese painting and calligraphy from prominent local collectors such as the Lin Family in Taiwan and Chokaido in Japan, bringing a wide range of styles and schools into his collection. After his eldest son inherited the collection, he chose more than 30 works to be exhibited at the Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University in the United States from 3 – 21 March 1975, including a handscroll in running script by late Ming notable Li Mengyang and pieces by Ming calligraphers such as Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming, and Dong Qichang. Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honoured to have been entrusted with the sale of this wide-ranging and prestigious collection, and we are excited for collectors to discover works that have been out of the public eye for decades.

Reference
Huang Tiancai, ‘Zhengtan li de juanjie shusheng——Cong Ye Gongchao de yishou Zhongwen gutishi tanqi’ (The Upright Intellectuals of the Political World: On One of George Kung-chao Yeh’s Chinese ‘Old Style’ Poems), in Wenhsun, 2011, 31-37.