The couplet may be translated as: 'A measure of Li Bai's poem mounts to a hundred verses; on the Chang'an market the wine drinkers are asleep'. This poetic inscription is in reference to the great Tang dynasty poet, Li Bai (702-762 AD) who was renowned for his passion for wine drinking. The tradition of scholars' literary gatherings, when a vast quantity of wine was consumed during compositions of poetry, continued throughout Chinese history and its idyllic imagery is summarised in pictorial form by the present panels.

Compare similar landscapes painted within panels on a pair of teapots bearing Qianlong sealmarks, from the Robert Chang collection, sold in these Rooms, 31 October 2000, lot 832; decorated in a panoramic landscape on the 'Tang Ying' lantern vase, dated to the Yongzheng/Qianlong period, from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection, sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2001, lot 516; and within panels on a Qianlong-marked covered lantern vase sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2002, lot 566.