The inscriptions read:
Filled with great joy and delight 歡天喜地
Painted in Beijing 作於京師
Dated to the bingshen year of mid spring, corresponding to 1896 丙申仲春
Spring signifies the renewal of life and the soul. 百樣精神百樣春
It is tranquil and dustless. 小園深處靜無塵。
The magnificence of the blossoms captures the essence of nature 筆花妙得天然趣,
This is not the dream of the ordinary man 不是尋常夢裡人。
Hundred of butterflies 題百蝶圖
Ma Shaoxuan 馬少宣
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby’s London, 5 November 1998, Lot 652.