ZHOU SHAOBAI (1806-1876) ATTR. China Je 178,5 x 47,5 cm Two Garden Rocks. Ink and light colors on paper, two hanging scrolls. Each with an inscription by the artist and his signature: “Lanxi daoshi”, “Shaobai”. Three seals of the artist: „Calligraphy and painting by Shaobai“ (Shaobai shuhua), “Shanyin Zhou shi” etc. German private collection. Formerly from an American private collection, acquired before 2007 - Zhou Tang, style names Shaobai and Lanxi, was from Shanyin (today Shaoxing) in Zhejiang province. He was a minor official and became famous for his paintings of stones and garden rocks showing fantastic forms and eccentric structures. He was called the ‘Number one of painters of stones’. He did also poems, calligraphy and seal cutting. In 1858 he compiled a book on the painting of bamboo and rocks (Zhu shi huafan) Traces of wear