SIGNED DENG WEI, DATED QIANLONG GUICHOU CYCLICAL YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1793 AND OF THE PERIOD

Deng Wei, with courtesy name Dehuang and studio name Yunqiao Shanren, belonged to a family of accomplished bamboo carvers residing in the Jiading area. He was active during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, and while he spent his early years of his career carving flowers, plants and figures, his bamboo works from his later years are mostly carved with long calligraphic inscriptions. Most of his purely calligraphic works are dated no earlier than 1784, just like the current piece, which is dated 1793. Two rubbings of Deng Wei's bamboo calligraphic works, one dated to 1786, the other dated to 1795, are illustrated in Ming Qing zhuke yishu, Taipei, 1999, pls. 42 and 43.