Unsigned. 2 seals: Nan-tien. Shou-ping.

To the left following the painting an inscription in regular script by Wang Hui reads:

Peonies are the most subject to vulgarization, and the most difficult to paint.  Take for example the peony painting of recent artisans.  They smear on greens and reds, and in spite of ten thousand blooms, they will stick to a single form and gesture, rendering the subject utterly spirit or vitality.  Only masters of the Northern Sung like Hsu Hsi, father and son, Chao Chang and Wang Yu painted creatively and provided innovation.  Their coloration was beautiful to the extreme, their spirit resonance palpable.  It is because they were able to transcend the confines of cannonical dicta that they were called transmitters of the divine (life-force).  Looking at this album by Nan-tien, exquisitely done in the "boneless manner (without ink outlines) and catching all natural transformations, (I can say that) it not only surpasses the art of Ming masters of floral painting such as Chen (Shun) and Lu (Chih), but matches that of the great masters of the Northern Sung.

Signature: Wang Hui of Chien-men inscribed in the 10th Month of 1672.
2 seals: Wang Hui chih-yin.  Shih-ku.

Yun Shou-ping (1633-1690) was a native of Wu-chin in Chiang-su.  At first his name was Ke, and his tzu Shou-ping.  He went by the latter name, adding the tzu Cheng-shu, the hao Nan-tien, Tung-yuan Tsao-i, Tung-yuan-ke, Pai-yun wai-shih, Yun-ku wai-shih.  Originally descended of a famous family, he refused to serve the Ching following the collapse of the Ming dynasty.  He worked at poetry and essays, and was considered the head of the so-called Six Free (Spirits) of Pi-ling.  At first he studied landscape painting, but when he met Wang Shan-ku (Hui) of Yushan who excelled in landscape painting he knew he would never be a match for the latter, and changed to flower painting.  In life-sketching he followed the methods of the Northern Sung master Hsu Hsi.  While developing fine brushwork he retained a scholarly air and was widely admired.  Occasionally he painted landscapes and transmitted the spirit of profound and cool mystery of Sung masters.  But his landscapes are scarce, and are highly prized at home and abroad.  In inscribing poetry and prose on paintings he reveals a strange and excellent flavour.  His calligraphy is also elegant and unusual, forming a distinct style.  For this reason he is called Nan-tien of the Three Supremes (poetry, painting and calligraphy)