Zhang Daqian was a legend in Chinese modern art history with superb artistic skills, a rich personal experience and excellent character. Zhang gathered expertise from ancient masters of the Southern and Northern School of Art. He excelled in portraits, landscapes and flower paintings. Zhang learnt the skills from his mother and sister, primarily excelled in Gonbi flower paintings from the Song dynasty and painted best of daffodils. He later followed Yuan style of painting and learnt boneless paintings from ink masters Chen Chun, Xu Wei, Shi Tao and Bada Shanren. Amongst the flower paintings of Zhang Daqian, most of them feature lotus flowers, followed by plum blossom and peonies. These three types are different in character and ways of depiction. Flowers under Zhang's brush are rich in colour with deep meaning, thus he was praised by Xu Beihong as the greatest ink master in centuries. Another most accomplished artist in Taiwan is Pu Hsinyu, who excelled in literature, calligraphy and painting. Zhang once admired Pu as an all-round artist, keen in brushwork. Pu was a humble scholar living an austere lifestyle in solitude. Zhang and Pu met in Beijing and lived in Summer Palace before the war. Both scholar had close friendship. After arriving in Taiwan, their friendship grew even further. As extroverts, both loved engaging friends in the making of ink paintings. This work was made as a gift for Mr Zhang Ligeng, by these two greatest artists of all times, making this a rare painting. There are two types of peonies: garden peonies (featured in this painting) and tree peonies. An adage goes, “Garden peonies comes first, followed by tree peonies.” Tree peonies are praised as kinds, whereas garden peonies are chancellors. The latter was usually given as gift of friendship or farewell. Garden peonies have long been the favourite subjects of depiction by literati. Zhang once visited Zhang Chonghe at her residence during his interview at the Yale University. Zhang saw the garden peonies blooming in the garden and drew a few sketches of the flowers. The flowers in this work were elegantly depicted. These garden peonies were called Boneless flowers, and were thus drawn with Boneless technique. The two flowers were coloured in light ink, one in its full bloom, one in bud. In Pu’s words, the blooming flower was delicate as spring silking worm, outlined skillfully with small brush, flourished with red at the center. Green of the stem enhanced the luscious effect from the plant. This technique resembles that used by Shi Tao. The stem was painted in one stroke. Leaves were depicted in their natural forms with broad and sturdy brushstrokes. The crown of the flower was vividly applied with colour. Blank background highlights the subject matter. Zhang was strongly affected by Qing’s realistic approach of painting, thus devoted time in gardening and appreciating plants. Zhang Zhou’s dream of butterflies represents freedom and the love for Nature. Butterflies have long been a symbol of carefree spirits among literati. They are often used as flourishing in gongbi style next to flowers in gardens. Butterflies in broad brush enhanced its vibrancy. In this work, the butterfly was drawn by Pu Hsinyu. It was dancing facing the audience. Its body was sketched by Pu and its wings were depicted in layers of light ink. This simple subject matter could see Pu’s exceptional skills used. Pu painted the butterfly after watching Zhang’s elegant garden peonies depiction. Pu’s butterfly fluttered in its own vibrancy. Inscriptions on the top shows Zhang’s sturdy calligraphy, inspired by Li Duanqing and Song scholars. Zhang’s calligraphy was unique to the artist, juxtaposing against the elegant peonies depicted. While Pu’s inscriptions was soft and elegant, echoing with the vivid butterfly. This work was under the collection of Zhang Ligeng. Zhang was once a war journalist and worked under the Central Daily News, the official newspaper in Taiwan in the period. He built friendship with the three greatest ink masters in Taiwan. Zhang established great achievements for the Taiwanese cultural sector. This painting was a collaboration work by the two greatest artist of all times, making this work a rare masterpiece in history.