Bamboo

Shao Mi was born and worked in the Suzhou area, the region of learning and refinement that became the center of Ming and early Qing painting during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Literati artists held a special fondness for bamboo; its energetic growth, ability to remain green through the cold season and ability to bend without breaking were qualities associated with the character of the gentleman scholar. We know from Shao's freely executed inscription that the artist's chief motive was expressionistic rather than representational.

The brush must be free and unhindered

In order to achieve its greatest potential

That accomplishment can only be attained

Outside of the inkwell (in the mind of the artist).

Your friend Mi, recorded in the sixth month of the Chih-shih cycle (1629)