This brushpot is signed Zhou Hao (c. 1685-1773), also known as Zhou Ran (zi Jinzhan, hao Xueqiao, Zhiyan, Yaofeng shanren, Ranqi). Hailing from Jiading, Jiangsu province, he was at the forefront of the Jiading school during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods and is considered one of the most accomplished bamboo carvers of the Qing dynasty. He was renowned for his deft wielding of the carving knife, which he used like a painting brush. This piece exemplifies Zhou's 'iron stroke and light depiction style', as e🍨vident in the rendering of rocks with 'axe-cut strokes'.

Three brushpots carved with similar motifs of bamboo and rocks and signed by Zhou Hao, but with lengthy inscriptions, were included in the exhibition Literati Spirit: Art of Chinese Bamboo Carving, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2012, cat. nos 25-27. Further works by Zhou Hao include a brushpot carved with a landscape, illustrated in Zhu Shuyi, 'Bamboo Carving of the Jiading School', Orientations, February 1991, pl. 6; another two sold in these rooms, 8th October 2010, lot 2230, and 31st October 2004, lot 191. See also an example carved with a flowering plum branch, from the Simon Kwan collection, included in the exhibition Ming and Qing Bamboo, The Art 🧸Museum, Chinese Unive🧜rsity of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. no. 93.