Eight Friends of Zhushan

The Eight Friends of Zhushan was a group of porcelain painters mostly active from the 19th century to the 20th century. The last member of the group passed away in the late 1960s. Actually, the whole number was not limited to eight.

Zhushan is a place in the vicinity of Jingdezhen, China's former porcelain capital, which was also the location of the imperial kiln during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The following is a list of members of the group, and their life dates.

Among these Xu Zhong-nan (徐仲南), Wang Qi (王琦), Wang Ye-ting (汪野亭), Wang Da-fan (王大凡), Tian He-xian (田鶴仙), Cheng Yi-ting (程意亭) and Liu Yu-chen (劉雨岑) are known for a large number of works, while Deng Bi-shan (鄧碧珊), He Xu-ren (何許人) and Bi Bai-tao (畢伯濤) are said to have produced less.

Deng Bi-shan is best known for his porcelain painting of fish, while He Xu-ren is famous for his specialization on snow landscapes.

The life dates given above may be of some help when evaluating a work of one of these porcelain painters for authenticity, as much of their porcelain artwork was dated. However, that is not enough. As fakes of their works proliferate, to authenticate them it is necessary to examine if the painting style, subject, as well as the style of hand writing and the seal stamp(s) are in accordance with theirs. Several of the members of this group are also noted for their work in the Qianjiang style of porcelain painting, but most appear to have switched to the new Fencai style, which emerged at about the same time as Jianqiang painting seems to have declined, in the early republic.


Qianjiang porcelain painting style

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