Born the daughter of a minor Manchu official, the Empress Dowager Cixi was the last great ruler of the Qing dynasty. Like her imperial predecessors, most notably the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–1795), she practiced calligraphy and painting herself. However, most of the works she signed and distributed as official gifts were actually produced by court painters. The present painting was probably executed by the painter Miao Jiahui, who followed the tradition of Yun Shouping (1635–1690) and his naturalistic style of painting.

The German envoy in Peking, Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein (1859–1924), who took up his post after the assassination of his predecessor in office, Clemens von Ketteler, by the "Boxers" in 1900, received this painting as a gift from the Empress Dowager on his departure from Peking in 1905. The elaborate mounting with colourfully patterned brocade, cloisonné knobs and a storage box decorated with carved dragons shows that it was made in an imperial palace workshop.