Painted scroll from a set, a study of a bank of flowers in black and white, with an inscription at the top and bottom. The scroll has a patterned brown border. A string is attached at the top, and at the bottom the scroll terminates in a wooden baton. The top right inscription reads仿所南筆意，琴舫先生大人正 ‘fang suo nan bi yi qin fang xian sheng da ren zheng’, which means ‘Mr. Suo-Nan’s style of painting imitated in this work to give it to Mr. Qin-Fang’. Here, Mr. Suo-Nan might refer to Zheng Suo-Nan (1241-1318), a famous painter in the Song and Yuan dynasty. He was known for painting orchids using inksticks. This painting is signed by 賀祝堯 ‘He Zhu-Yao’ with his pseudonym漱芝 ‘Shu Zhi’, who is recorded as a painter famous for his orchid painting in the Qing dynasty.
