The Female Disciples of Master Suiyuan, by You Shao & Wang Gong

This painting celebrates the world view of the eighteenth-century poet Yuan Mei, who broke the mould of feudal societies, where women were subservient to men and uneducated, by accepting women as his pupils. The painting masquerades as a traditional image of a scholar surrounded by beauties in a garden, but these women were in fact the published poets of Yuan Mei's circle.