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Zhao Chang
Early Northern Song painter of flowers, fruit and insects from Sichuan, famed for his colouring and for painting from life
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 Changzhi · Zhao Chang Who Paints from Life
Zhao Chang, courtesy name Changzhi, came from Guanghan in Sichuan and painted flowers and birds in the early Northern Song. Guo Ruoxu says he excelled at cut branches of flowers and fruit, often from set models, with colouring unmatched in his age, and painted insects as well; being wealthy, he bought back his own paintings in old age, so few survived. A Song notebook records that he studied flowers each morning with the dew still on them and called himself Zhao Chang Who Paints from Life. The unsigned Butterflies and Insects from Life in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is attributed to him on the strength of an inscription by Dong Qichang. He has a biography in the Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the early Northern Song (early 11th century)