SHEN ZHIZHOU (LATE 19TH CENTURY)
Garden Scene in Moonlight
Folding fan mounted as a hanging scroll, ink and colors on mica paper, inscribed by the artist with a dedication, signed Shiru Shen Zhizhou, with an artist's seal.
20 1/4in (51.4cm) wide
Footnotes:
沈稚周 遊園圖 設色雲母箋 扇面立軸 十九世紀末

款識：綠章夜奏通明殿，乞借春陰護海棠。仿六如居士畫意於集思廣益之軒，彝范仁兄大人正繆，石如弟沈稚周

Published:
Suzuki Kei, Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Paintings Vol. 2 Tokyo, 1982, E10-005.

出版：
鈴木敬，《中國繪畫總和圖錄》卷二，東京，1982年，圖錄編號E10-005

Extant paintings by Shen Zhizhou, possibly a native of Suzhou, are few. Another of his painted folding fans with similar palette, techniques and setting, depicting the Yuan dynasty scholar painter Ni Zan (1301-1374) washing a Paulownia tree with two servants in a garden is in the collection of The Yangzhou Museum, on view May 15-August 2, 2021 in the exhibition Shanshui Xianglian: Nanjing Dushiquan Gonggong Bowuguan Cang Shuhua Lianzhan 山水相連：南京都市圈公共博物館藏書畫聯展 (Connected Landscape: Joint Exhibition of Calligraphy and Paintings from Public Institutions in Nanjing Metropolitan Circle) at the Nanjing Museum.

The inscription is, in part, two lines from a four-line poem by Lu You (1125-1209), one of the important poets of the Southern Song dynasty, translated as: 'I love the flowering Chinese crab apple as my life. I fret that it might be damaged by the strong sun. I pray that the weather be cloudy, so that the blossoms may linger.' (translation by Elizabeth Hammer).

The inscription also comments that it is painted in the style of Tang Yin (1470-1523), a late-Ming master from Suzhou and dedicates the painting to his elder brother Yifan. Yifan appears to be the art name of Chen Fan (1860-1913), a native of Mt. Heng in Hunan Province and the owner of the newspaper Su Bao 《蘇報》 after 1900.