Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zhou Zhimian
Wanli-era Suzhou bird-and-flower painter who joined Chen Chun's free brushwork to fine colour, the manner later called outlined flowers and dotted leaves
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 Fuqing · Hao Shaogu
Zhou Zhimian, courtesy name Fuqing, art name Shaogu, was a Suzhou painter active mainly in the Wanli reign, a writer of clerical script known above all for birds and flowers. He outlined blossoms in fine line and dabbed in branches and leaves in ink, joining the freedom of Chen Chun's sketching manner to the finish of coloured painting, a method later called outlined flowers and dotted leaves. He is said to have kept birds of many kinds at home in order to paint them from life. Surviving works include Quail with Flowers and Bamboo and Grapes and Squirrel in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and a Hundred Flowers handscroll under his name.
Life and times
Dates c. 1542–c. 1606