There are twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two marquis. In the change of the four seasons, the seasons are replaced, and the ancients selected the most representative twelve flowers in December of the traditional calendar, creating the "December Flowers". Due to the vast territory of China, the climatic characteristics of the east, west, north and south are different. Therefore, the blooming season of flowers is different in different places, the monthly flowers are different, and the "Flower Calendar" compiled in various places is also somewhat different.
Since ancient times, literati and artists have been fascinated by the December flowers, which has become their inspiration**. But looking at Wanhua, artists throughout the ages have a soft spot for plum blossoms. In the simple utensils, clear words and wonderful sentences, ink and blue, everywhere can be found their preference and admiration for the plum blossoms, known as one of the "eight strange Yangzhou" in the Qing Dynasty, Li Fangying is extremely fond of plum blossoms, especially famous for painting plums. Today is the twenty-first day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Dragon, looking at the beginning of spring, the flowers are sprouting, and the plum blossoms are blooming in the first month.
Li FangyingMomeiVertical scroll, ink on paper, 1751, 1325 57 cm, Beijing Poly 2022 Spring Auction, Ancient Paintings and Calligraphy Night Session, Lot 813Price realized: RMB 1
Published:
Meilan Bamboo Chrysanthemum Painting, p. 73, Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 1986.
Bibliography:
Xu Bangda wrote "Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Catalogue".
Xu Bangda, ed., Chronology of Calligraphy and Painting Works Circulated in the Past Dynasties, p. 438, Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 1963.
Wang Fengzhu and Zhou Jiyin, eds., Chronology of Yangzhou Eight Strange Paintings and Calligraphy, p. 210, Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, 1992.
Cao Huimin and Chen Yan, eds., The Complete Book of Yangzhou Eight Monsters, Volume 1: The Complete Works of Zheng Banqiao and Li Fangying's Poems, Calligraphy and Painting, p. 438, China Yanshi Publishing House, 2008.
Zhang Songlin, "Nantong People in Li Fangying's "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", p. 125, Soochow University Press, 2017.
Zhu Hong, "Yangzhou Eight Strange Li Fangying in Anhui Eunuch Trace Examination", Cultural Journal, No. 8, 2017, p. 30, August 2017.
Description:
It was once in the collection of the Palace Museum, appraised by Xu Bangda, and recorded in the "Appendix to the Examination of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting" and the "Chronology of Calligraphy and Painting Works Circulated in the Past Dynasties".
Xie Zhiliu inscription, Wei Jinfei old collection. Wei Jinfei (1903-1983) was a native of Jurong, Jiangsu. After liberation, he successively served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Central South Military and Political Commission, Member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, Vice Governor, Deputy Director of the ** Finance and Trade Office, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In his spare time, he is a good collector of calligraphy and paintings, and has made friends with famous artists such as Zhang Heng, Xie Zhiliu, and Tang Yun.
The above paragraph "Art Garden" is Li Fangying's friend, Nantong Prefecture Kangqian celebrity Bao Peiyuan. Bao Peiyuan, the word Minchuan, alias Yiyuan, and his younger brother Bao Peiji were all famous collectors in Nantong Prefecture at that time. Bao Peiyuan is good at chanting, fine appreciation, Zheng Banqiao once inscribed a plaque for the art garden "countless green mountains worship the grass house".
A few new points of plum blossoms are the most lovely.
Momei" detail.
This painting "Momei" was painted by Li Fangying in the 16th year of Qianlong (1751), and it was also in this year that he was impeached and removed from office in the trap of "villain". The artistic feeling of "Ink Plum" is relaxed and simple, with a few faint strokes of writing branches, a few light plum blossoms, and a thick ink hook on the stamens, showing the unique artistic conception of "waving the ink marks on the paper, and the plum blossoms are the most lovely", and the thick and light ink is like a cloud of smoke. The authenticity of his brushwork can make people feel that "the power of the official is used in painting, so the painting is unscrupulous, and it is as good as its breath" (Ding Youyu's "Crying Qingjiang Wen").
Momei" detail.
Regarding the painting of plum, Li Fangying once said meaningfully that he "knows me and sins against me", which is not to change the integrity of being an official. Li Fangying's confidant Yuan Mei commented: "People win the seven officials of the mountain people, and the sky and the mountain people have a pen." The waves of pen and ink rise layer by layer, shaking the spring light for thousands of miles". Such a quality makes Li Fangying's "Momei" have a strong valuable spirit of facing social life. 
Li Fangying's painting "Momei Tu", collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.