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The orchid's long and gracefully fluttering leaves often overshadow its inconspicuous flowers. The delicate flowers represent the purity of seclusion for scholars. Orchids grow untended-like the scholar who cultivates his own talents but is unrecognized by others. The blossoms exude a subtle fragrance that symbolizes the purity of men. This painting was likely executed by a Chinese Buddhist monk of the Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism. In the 1650s, a large number of monks migrated from China to Japan after the fall of the Ming dynasty and the rise of the foreign Manchurian government.