Orchid

This embroidery piece is based on the painting of Li Fangying (1695-1755 AD), one of the painters known as the “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou”. In traditional Chinese culture, orchid has been taken as a cultural symbol by writers and painters to express their own inner world. The embroiderer mainly employed long and short stitches (changduan zhen, 长短针) to illustrate the slim and graceful orchid leaves. Her skillful application of embroidery techniques successfully transferred the unrestrained brushwork from the painting onto the embroidery, which shed light on the happy mind of the painter while working on the artwork, as well as his pursuit of virtue and noble characters.