Chu Sheng was born in the modern city of Hang-chou in the Chekiang province. He studied under Lu Te-chih (1585-1660), a specialist in bamboo and orchid paintings who in turn was inspired by the great Sung dynasty masters of bamboo paintings, Su-shih (1036-1101) and Wen T'ung (1019-1079). This background rooted Chu Sheng in a rather pictorial approach to painting. The second edition of the famous "Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual" featured Chu Sheng's designs for bamboo and orchid painting and he enjoyed professional success while working in Nanking during his later years.

The inscription reads:

During the late spring of the year 1688, done after the brush-mode of the plum-blossom Taoist Wu Chen (1280-1354)) by the seventy-one year old Chu Sheng.