Description:In ancient China, people called a man of great virtue a gentleman. In the world of flowers plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums are known as the four gentlemen in China because these plants¡¯ natural character have something in common w... Four Gentlemen in Plants

The Painting of Plum blossoms by Wu Zhen from Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

Wang Mian, the most outstanding master in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) was notable for his vigorous masterpiece Ink Plum Blossom.

Orchids

Grown in deep mountain valleys, orchids are one of the top ten well-known flowers in China. Chinese people usually link orchids with elegance owing to their delicate fragrance that refreshes people¡¯s minds and the elegant figures swaying slightly in the wind

Becoming popular during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), orchids arrived later than plum blossoms and people didn¡¯t pay much attention to orchid paintings until Song Dynasty (960-1279). It is said that Sushi (a famous poet in Song Dynasty) once painted orchids with some thorns between them, implying that a gentle man can tolerate a mean person.

Ink Orchids by Zheng Sixiao from Song Dynasty(960-1279)

With the downfall of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), people in the early Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) expressed their unyielding integrity by painting orchids. The masters in that time were Zhao Mengjian and Zheng Sixiao.