Wen Shu(1595-1634), styled Duanrong, was a native of Changzhou, daughter of Wen Congjian and great-great-granddaughter of Wen Zhengming. She was strong in flowers, grass, insects and butterfly. Flower and bird was the most popular subject matter of women painters. Out of subtle feelings and partiality for flowers and birds peculiar to women and because of the artistic function of flowers and birds in expressing aspiration by means of depicting nature, the women painters living in boudoirs depicted flowers and birds commonly seen in their life and the artistic creation of flowers and birds formed a certain scale. Wen was one of the most representative painters in this field. At the end of the Ming dynasty, Qian Qianyi highly appraised Wen Shu by saying that "dot and wash techniques in her still life paintings are unique in this dynasty." In his Guochao Huazheng Xulu (Sequel Record of the Qing Paintings), Zhang Geng even set a higher value on Wen Shu: "among the Wuzhong women skilled in painting in the past 300 years, Wen Shu is the most superb one."