Zhou Shuxi

CHINA, Jiangsu, Wuxi; Qing dynasty

Also known as Zhou Xi or Jiangshang Nushi, Zhou Shuxi was a female painter who was skilled in depicting scenes and images from nature. She was from Jiangyin, Wuxi. She emphasized sketching from nature and used freehand brushstrokes to finely draw with bright colors, creating paintings that were vivid and true to life.
Zhou also excelled at painting Buddhist figures. Her depiction of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva includes a scripting of the Heart Sutra, written by Wang Di and Ceng Xiang. When she was only 15 years old, she painted the Thirty-Two Manifestations of Avalokitesvara. The set of paintings was later copied and kept at the Capital Museum in Beijing. In 1670, she illustrated 10 paintings of Arhats that were originally donated to Wanming Temple in Beijing. Currently, they are kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.