Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zhou Hao
Jiading painter and bamboo carver of the Kangxi to Qianlong era who carved bamboo with a painter's brushwork
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Jinzhan · Hao Zhiyan
Zhou Hao, courtesy name Jinzhan and art name Zhiyan, came from Jiading near present-day Shanghai and lived through the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, seldom leaving home and never sitting the examinations. He trained in painting from youth, reportedly with advice from Wang Hui, modelled his landscapes on Song and Yuan masters and was most admired for ink bamboo. He carried that brushwork into bamboo carving, cutting mostly in intaglio so that the knife marks read like textured brushstrokes. Dated carvings survive from 1740, 1742 and 1757; the Shanghai Museum holds his brush holder with a pine ravine and cloudy spring, and the Jiading Museum one with a scholar viewing a spring dated 1742.
Life and times
Dates 1685 CE–1773 CE