Ch'en Hung-shou (1598 or 1599-1652), despite failing the civil service examination, obtained the status of the literati class and befriended famous writers, scholars, and officials of his time because of his background and education. After the downfall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, Ch'en refused to serve the new regime and earned his living by selling painting in cities close to his native place, Chu-chi of Chekiang. During his professional career from 1645 to 1652, Ch'en continued developing his expertise in figure painting, but with a new style in which women and objects feature prominently in both garden and studio settings as part of literati life. These late paintings of Ch'en Hung-shou highlight the texture, colors, and craftsmanship of the bronze, porcelain, or lacquer objects he wishes to depict through rich coloration and careful delineation. What is even more unusual and distinctive about these paintings is the depiction of the interaction between the literati figure, the women and the objects surrounding him, including the use of gesturing such as gazing, touching and smelling, all related to sensibility. This study attempts to investigate the above-mentioned stylistic characteristics in Ch'en Hung-shou's late figure painting in the context of late-Ming discourse on women, objects and that of the related culture of sensibility. First of all, it draws an analogy between Ch'en's paintings and the contemporary writings on women and objects that emerged as a fashion in late-Ming print culture, such as The Eight Treaties on Life (Tsun-sheng pa-chien) by Kao Lien and On Appreciating Women (Yueh-iung-pien) by Wei Yung. The similarities include specific views of women and objects, and the acitve role of women and objects in the daily life of late-Ming literati who were in search of refined senses and tastes. For example, talented women who could read and write were considered both pleasing to the eye and heart as they were able to share more in common with their literati masters. In addition, the late-Ming collectors held that the aesthetic value of bronze lay in its beautiful colors, changed with the passing of time, and not in its inscriptions and shapes, both of which refer to its function in ancient rituals. As such, colors on bronze became the discursive site both in visual and textual materials, in which daily rubbing and gazing were the most important ways to appreciate such an object. Secondly, notwithstanding his status as a professional painter, Ch'en Hung-shou sold his works through networking with his old friends and received financial support from patrons of a kindred spirit. Moreover, he became very famous in his last days and was highly recognized by the literati or scholar-officials such as Chow Liang-kung (1612-72) and Mao Ch'i-ling (1623-1716). This means that Ch'en Hung-shou had power over deciding what to paint and to whom he would sell his works, unlike common professionals such as Ch'iu Ying. Thus, this research is intended to propose that Ch'en's late figure paintings represented the collective memory of the literati who faced the transitional chaos of the early years of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Through Ch'en's representations of a typical late-Ming literati life in the area of Kiang-nan, they remembered the days passed in late Ming, of which their interaction with women and objects and the culture of sensibility formed such an essential part. nsibility formed such an essential part.