The Quiet Presence of Xu Qiu To look at the surviving record of Xu Qiu is to encounter a specific, localized fragment of the Qing dynasty. While many artists of the seventeenth century sought to redefine the boundaries of the brush, Xu Qiu’s presence in the historical canon is defined by a singular, focused output. The work survives not through massive collections or sprawling influence, but through its placement within the most guarded repositories of Chinese art history. The artist lived through a period of significant transition, spanning from 1636 to 1708. This era demanded a high level o…