Zhou Tianqiu

CHINA, Jiangsu, Suzhou; Ming dynasty

Zhou Tianqiu, also known as Gongxia or Youhai, was a calligrapher and painter from Changzhou (present day Suzhou, Jiangsu). He learned calligraphy as a young student under Wen Zhengming and specialized in large and small seal scripts, as well as regular, running, and cursive scripts. Also an excellent painter of orchids, Records of Ming Paintings remarked, “Ink paintings of orchids diminished after Zhao Mengfu; only Tianqiu could master the wonderful skill.”
Zhou’s works include a calligraphic script of the Heart Sutra, kept at the Shanghai Museum; a painting of Orchids and script of Five-Character Poem, kept at the Nanjing Museum in Jiangsu; and a painting of Narcissus and Bamboo Branches, kept at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang.