Chrysanthemuns and Loquats

"Chrysanthemuns and Loquats" is executed with a "boneless" freehand technique, the brushwork rich and robust, the style and composition reminiscent of Wu Chang-shuo's work. The inscription in the upper left reads: "Bored on rainy day, (I) pick up an album of (Wu) Chang-shuo's paintings; copying from it, (I) feel clarity and understanding welling up in (my) heart; vitality permeates the paper, as if Fou Weng (Wu Chang-shuo) were aware my efforts, laughingly praising me as one worthy of instruction. Shen-chia year (1944), 3rd lunar month, 3rd day, Layman Huei-cheng, Wu Fei." Lower seal: "Shi-ching painting seal"; At lower right another irregularly seal reads "Besotted Shih Tao (1642-1707; a Chinese poet and landscape painter). Stylistically, the painting shares similarities with the Shanghai School and recalls the work of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou," a group of 18th century painters.