Which Chinese painting subject is traditionally called the “Four Gentlemen”?

The Chinese painting subject called the “Four Gentlemen” consists of plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum.

The group represents four plants associated with the seasons: orchid with spring, bamboo with summer, chrysanthemum with autumn, and plum blossom with winter. Artists valued them not only for appearance but also for the moral qualities they symbolized.

Bamboo suggests uprightness and resilience, orchid suggests refinement, chrysanthemum suggests integrity, and plum blossom suggests perseverance through hardship. These meanings made the subjects especially suitable for literati painting and ink-brush practice.

The Four Gentlemen are not a single composition that must always contain all four plants. Artists commonly painted each subject separately, using it to demonstrate brush control, expressive line, and mastery of ink tones. The set is also known in Chinese as mei, lan, zhu, ju.