This pair of peacocks with peonies, representing wealth and worldly power, may have been commissioned by an influential patron; in particular, the heroic posture of the peacock suggests an official commission. The artist, Tani Bunchō, had learned various Chinese painting styles when in the service of a powerful statesman, Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758–1829). Bunchō borrowed the pictorial vocabulary of birds and flowers from such painters as Sō Shiseki, who had studied the Chinese treatment of these subjects in Nagasaki.
