Lot Essay
Gui Zhuang (1613-1673) was a native of Jiangsu province, who also went by the sobriquet of Zuoming. He was a scholar during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. After the Manchu invasion of China, Gui participated in the Kunshan anti-Manchu activities, which ended in failure. He then moved back to his hometown and focused on writing scholarly works. He enjoyed equal popularity as fellow countryman Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), and is known together as the “peculiar Gui and eccentric Gu”.