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The
album leaf depicts a branch of flowering apricot.
Chao
Ch'ang, (tzu: ch'ang-chih), was a native of Chien-nan, Szechwan; however,
some sources cite Kuang-han as his home. Excelling at painting plants and
flowers, he would go out each morning when the dew was still fresh, and
with brush in hand, carefully record what he saw. Chao Ch'ang personally
called this 'hsieh-sheng', sketching from life. Subject matter of his
paintings included flowering tree branches, vegetables, grasses, insects,
birds and rocks. Chao Ch'ang prized his own paintings so much that he
would not casually give them to others. In his later years, Chao Ch'ang
hoarded his works even to the point of buying back paintings with which he
had parted earlier. Unfortunately, surviving works by his hand are quite
rare. Chao Ch'ang's exact birth and death
dates are unknown.
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