Zhu Zichang

CHINA, Zhejiang, Wenzhou

Zhu Zichang, originally named Zheng Lun, was a sculptor who inherited the skills of handicraft from his family, who were folk artists. At the age of nine, he began learning the skills of clay sculpting, and by the age of 20, he created sculptures for many temples in Zhejiang. Gifted and talented, he was hailed by his contemporaries as Immortal Lun.
By the late Qing dynasty, Zhu switched to boxwood carving. Owing to the small size of the boxwood material, he usually made small Buddha statues and human figures. He employed the knife smoothly, using the merits of other artists’ techniques, coupled with deep observations of the various emotions shown by the figures he sculpted. His statues were finished with smooth lines and superior skills.
In 1909, Zhu sculpted a statue of Master Daoji, which won him the Excellence Award in the First Nanyang Commodity Exposition International Competition. Later, in 1915, his group of statues named Hide-and-Seek won him the Second Prize in the Panama Contest, making a name for himself at home and abroad. His other artwork is Maitreya Bodhisattva, which is kept at the Zhejiang Museum in Hangzhou.