SIGNED ZHI CI'AN, REPUBLIC PERIOD

Zhi Ci'an (1903-1974) was an accomplished painter and carver who specialized in seal and bamboo carving, with his best known works found in bamboo fans and wrist rests. On commenting the declining qualities of the bamboo carving in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Chinese art connoisseur Wang Shixiang praised Zhi Ci'an for breathing new life into this category in the twentieth century.