LOU SHIBAI 婁師白 (Beijing, China, 1918-2010) Peaches Dated 2002 Ink and colour on paper, mounted as a hanging scroll Inscribed and signed, with two red seals of the artist 137cm high, 69cm wide 婁師白 長壽 2002年作 設色紙本 立軸 款識：壬午秋師白又篆二字。三百石印，河下婁師白作。 鈐印：「師白」兩鈐 - Note: Lou Shibai was born in 1918 in Beijing and formally became the apprentice of the master Qi Baishi (1864-1957) at the age of sixteen, studying painting, calligraphy, seal cutting and poetry. The last apprentice of Qi Baishi, both student and teacher had great affection for one another, and Qi changed a character of Lou's artistic name in 1937. After graduating from Fu-Jen University in Beijing in 1942, Lou carried forward the artistic traditions of his former teacher,prehensively infusing his own work with Qi Baishi's distinctive style. The painting in the present lot exhibits this well-known style - playful imagery, confident, bold brushstrokes and vivid colours. Examples of Qi Baishi paintings depicting peaches are numerous, both sold at auction and housed in museum collections. For example, see a painting by Qi Baishi sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2022, lot 1175, in which the vibrantly-coloured peaches are contrasted against the more muted leaves, the leaves being distinctly outlined in darker ink. This contrast is also evident in the present lot, indicative of both a close teacher-student relation, and an enduring reverance held by the latter towards the former.