国色天香National Beauty, Heavenly Fragrance

A peony winds up from the lower right of the scroll, red and pink blossoms alternating with two flowers of deep gold, so the eye climbs the painting bloom by bloom. Each flower is built up in layered washes without outline, dark at the base of the petals and left almost bare at their edges, which gives them weight and sheen. The leaves are laid in with ink-green and mineral green and veined with dark lines. Near the top left, two small birds dart in among the flowers, one with wings spread, one wheeling round.

The inscription gives the title, National Beauty, Heavenly Fragrance, and two lines from the Tang poet Liu Yuxi’s poem on admiring peonies: only the peony is the true beauty of the land; when it flowers, the whole capital is stirred. The phrase has long been the peony’s own praise, and a wish for flourishing and plenty.

牡丹一本，自右下蜿蜒而上，朱粉间错，杂以金黄两朵，枝叶繁密而气脉贯通。花头以没骨法层层渲染，瓣根色重，瓣缘留白，厚薄有致，光泽自生；叶以墨绿、石绿铺色，勾筋利落。左上双雀穿花而至，一振翅，一回翔，轻盈可喜。

左侧题“国色天香”四字，并录唐刘禹锡《赏牡丹》句：“唯有牡丹真国色，花开时节动京城。”国色天香，原为牡丹之美誉，言其色冠群芳、香溢天下，亦寄繁荣昌盛之愿。