Qian Gu; ca. (1508-unknown) was a Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 landscape painter during the Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 (1368–1644). His date of death is unknown, but is traditionally given as around 1578.

Qian was born in Changzhou

Changzhou

Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the...

 in the Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province. His style name was 'Shubao' and his sobriquet

Sobriquet

A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...

 was 'Qingshi'. Qian's painting used a soft but firm style. Qian often used subjects found in his observations around the south of the Yangzi River.

Qian was a client of the literatus Wang Shizhen (1526–90), and frequently spent time at Wang's home in Taicang in his later years. In 1572 Qian painted an album of scenes along the Grand Canal while accompanying Wang Shizhen on a journey to the capital at Beijing.