The inscription in the upper left of this orthodox ink landscape reads, Painted at the official residence in Cheng-ling in the eighth month in autumn of the Hsin-hai year of the Ch'ien-lung reign (1791). Signed: the seventy-two year old man Wang Ch'en. There are two artist's seals and two collector's seals that identify the Li family of Chiang Yin in Kiangsu province and another that reads as the Hundred Inkstone Hall.

Together with the painters Wang Yu (active 1680-1750), Wang Su (active 1700-1763), and Wang Chiu (1730-1786), Wang Ch'en came to be known as one of the "Four Lesser Wangs." Wang Ch'en boasted direct lineage from Wang Shih-min and Wang Yuan-ch'i, two members of the earlier literati circle known as the Four Major Wangs; Wang Shih-min (1592-1680), Wang Yuan-Ch'i (1642-1715), Wang Chien (1598-1617), and Wang Hui (1632-1717).

Wang Chen passed his Chu-jen exam in 1760 and was assigned to the clerical staff of the Grand Secretariat. He later served as the Prefect of Yung-chou in Hupeh province. His lifestyle and pictorial idiom are typical of the Ch'ing orthodox tradition.