Lot Essay
(US$64,100-89,700)
Pai Ji Zhai is the studio name of Zhou Tianqiu (1514-1595), a close friend of Qiu Ying. The handscroll is painted with care, precision, and accuracy matching well the standards of 12th-century artist Zhao Boju. The brushwork is elegant and colors gorgeous.
The exact date of Qiu Ying's death was unsure, but should be around 1552. Based upon the signature, we believe that the painting was done one or two years before his death. Few years after the completion of the painting, Zhou Tianqiu requested several Wu school artists to add colophons to it. Because the handscroll is in miniture size, all colophons have to be written in small standard script, which must be done with extra caution. The handscroll is an excellent combination of painting, calligraphy and literature, along with credible provenance, as Wang Wenzhi (1730-1802) states in the frontispiece "the best work by Qiu Ying".
Pai Ji Zhai is the studio name of Zhou Tianqiu (1514-1595), a close friend of Qiu Ying. The handscroll is painted with care, precision, and accuracy matching well the standards of 12th-century artist Zhao Boju. The brushwork is elegant and colors gorgeous.
The exact date of Qiu Ying's death was unsure, but should be around 1552. Based upon the signature, we believe that the painting was done one or two years before his death. Few years after the completion of the painting, Zhou Tianqiu requested several Wu school artists to add colophons to it. Because the handscroll is in miniture size, all colophons have to be written in small standard script, which must be done with extra caution. The handscroll is an excellent combination of painting, calligraphy and literature, along with credible provenance, as Wang Wenzhi (1730-1802) states in the frontispiece "the best work by Qiu Ying".