This is the depiction of an imperial official of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) in formal court costume and with the insignia of his rank. Over his light blue dragon robe he wears a dark blue overgarment with the square insignia of his rank (mandarin square) on the chest, whose motif, a purple mandarin duck, identifies him as a civil official of the 7th rank. The top of the headgear also indicates this rank.
The official is enthroned in strict frontality in a hierarchical posture on the armchair. While his body and robe are flat and schematically rendered, the face shows a naturalistic, probably lifelike portrait. The fine, plastic modelling of the facial features by means of shading (chiaroscuro) has been adopted from European painting and was common in portraiture in China around 1900. Such ancestral portraits were usually prefabricated and later supplemented by the portrait of the client.
As in 18th-century portraits of emperors, the throne-like armchair stands on a carpet whose decoration shows two lion-dogs playing with the central wish-fulfilling jewel as if it were a ball.