Four Gentlemen

The "Four Gentlemen", also called the Four Noble Ones or Four Friends, in Chinese art refers to four plants: the orchid, or ran; the bamboo; the chrysanthemum, or kiku; and the plum blossom, or ume (italics are in Japanese). The term compares the four plants to Confucianist junzi, or "gentlemen". A painting or decoration incorporating all four plants is also known as the "Four Gentlemen". They are most typically depicted in traditional ink and wash painting. The "Four Gentlemen" belong to the category of bird-and-flower painting in Chinese art.

The Four Gentlemen have been used in Chinese painting since the time of the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279) because of their refined beauty, and were later adopted by artists in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. As they represent the four different seasons (the plum blossom for winter, the orchid for spring, the chrysanthemum for autumn, and the bamboo for summer), the four are used to depict the unfolding of the seasons through the year.

The Four Gentlemen are an important subject matter in learning to paint in the aforementioned Asian traditions, as they embody all the basic brush styles. They are also depicted in Mahjong tiles.

In Korea the Four Gentlemen were also known as the Four Gracious Plants. Rules differed from the Chinese in certain ways. In particular, the orchid needed to imitate the shape of the eye of a bird or the legs of a mantis. One can find the hidden figure of mantis legs and the eyes of an eagle in the flower. The best known for orchids were Heungseon Daewongun.

Related to the Four Gentlemen are The Flowers of the Four Seasons, which consist of the orchid (spring), the lotus (summer), the chrysanthemum (autumn) and the plum blossom (winter). They contain three of the elements of the Four Gentlemen.