Wang Mian (died 1359), Ink Plum, ca. 1350s, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). Hanging scroll: ink on paper; with ivory rollers. Without mounting: 114.8 x 26 cm (45 3/16 x 10 1/4 in.), with mounting: 281.9 x 53.3 cm (111 x 21 in.), with rollers: 63.5 cm (25 in.), Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore, 1954.40.3. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery

The plum, blooming in isolation at the end of winter when it is still often surrounded by snow, became a symbol of regeneration and of endurance under adversity. Paintings of plums executed in ink only developed as a genre of painting, particularly associated with scholars and scholar painting, during the late Northern Song period at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century. The literary and pictorial associations that the plum gained over the centuries took on a deeper meaning with the Mongol conquest of China at the end of the thirteenth century. Wang Mian, painting at the end of the Mongol period, gave shape to the genre. His images of plum branches in cascading S-curves were combined with poems, refining the expressive potential of the subject.