Provenance:Property from an important American Collection, gifted from the artist in 1976.In 1975 and 1976, the collector, an American photographer, and her husband were working in Hong Kong on an artist’s grant and fellowship study respectively. They were introduced to Ding Yanyong by a friend and the American artist soon became one of Ding's first Western pupils. Ding gave her the Chinese sobriquet 'Meilan' or 'Beautiful Orchid', and this name appears as part of the dedication on many of the works Freeman’s | Hindman are offering. The collector and the artist became quite close, and Ding gave her many works, spanning a wide range of subjects, including mounted scrolls and more informal rapid studies of figures from Chinese religion, literature and folklore, birds and animals, and flowers and plants. In the majority of these paintings, the personality of the artist, spontaneous, gregarious, and with a sly sense of humor, is evident. These works typify Ding’s expressionist line and bold use of color which have appealed to collectors for decades, offering a rare opportunity to acquire works that have not been seen since the 1970s.來源：畫家於1976年贈與現藏家。1975-1976年，現藏家——一對美國攝影師伉儷，在香港學習藝術。經友人引薦結識丁衍庸，成為丁的首位西洋弟子。丁為之取名“美蘭”，師徒情深，贈畫頗多，且附上款。