牡丹绝色三春暖Peerless Peonies in the Warmth of Spring

Two great clusters of peonies, one above the other, fill nearly the whole scroll. The upper cluster is mostly pink, large flowers layered one over another with a single crimson bloom among them; the lower is a mass of crimson and deep red with a few pink flowers in between, rich and warm yet never confused. Every petal is shaded without outline, deep at the base and pale at the edge, around thick golden stamens; the dark green leaves are veined in ink and dotted with mineral green, and buds stand up at the tips of the stems. At the top two butterflies flutter in, painted in fine detail, the markings on their wings clear.

The title at the upper right reads “Peerless peonies in the warmth of spring”, and the inscription records that it was painted beside West Lake in Hangzhou in the summer of 2026: peerless, first among all flowers, and opening when spring is at its height.

牡丹两丛，上下呼应，几乎铺满全幅：上丛以粉红为主，大朵层叠，间以朱红一朵；下丛朱红、深红成片，中夹粉红数朵，浓淡相间，热烈而不杂。花瓣皆以没骨分染，瓣根浓、瓣缘淡，花蕊金黄饱满；叶片墨绿勾筋，石绿点染，枝头花苞挺秀。画顶蛱蝶两只，翩翩而来，以工笔写出，翅上花纹历历可见，为满纸春色添一分灵动。

右上题“牡丹绝色三春暖”，款记作于丙午夏月、杭州西子湖畔。绝色言其美冠群芳，三春暖言其开于春光最盛之时，满纸皆是富贵祥和之气。