Shafi Abbasi was the son of Riza-yi Abbasi, the enormously influential painter at the court of Shah Abbas I (r. 1587–1629, called "the Great") who was renowned for his innovative use of line and color (see, for example, the Museum's painting Lovers, acc. no. 50.164). Shafi chose his own path and became famous for his drawings of flowers, establishing a genre that became widely popular in Iran and that lasted well into the nineteenth century. Both father and son worked at the Safavid court in Isfahan. However, Shafi earned his honorific from Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–66), great-grandson of Shah Abbas I.

This drawing, enhanced by the butterflies and other insects among the flowering plants, shows the influence of European herbals. The inscribed lines in nastaliq script consist of love poetry, based in part on the images in the drawing. The two at the lower left give the date—Sunday, the first day of the month of Muharram of the hegira year 1059—as well as the signature of the artist.