17TH/18TH CENTURY, SIGNED ZHOU BIN

Zhou Bin, also known as Shang Jun, was a native of Zhangzhou in Fujian province. He is most famous for his seal carvings, luohan figures and, occasionally, seal paste boxes. It has also been suggested, though not conclusively proved, that he originally studied under Yang Yuxuan and later worked as an Imperial craftsman in the Palace workshops of the Kangxi emperor. For other soapstone pieces bearing various signatures of Zhou Bin, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986: no. 43, a pair of seals signed Shangjun; no. 44, the figure of a luohan, signed Gumin Zhou Bin Shangjun shi zhi; and no. 84, a brush pot signed Zhou Bin and Shangjun.