This vertical panel was probably originally part of a set to be inserted into the frame of a screen. The theme of autumn flowers, which includes chrysanthemums, yellow hibiscus, and amaranthus, suggests it may have been one of a set of four designs representing the seasons. The composition with garden rock and paired birds and butterflies follows a convention for bird and flower studies dating from the tenth century. Such compositions created by painters working at the court would have been sent to the imperial factories at Suzhou to be executed in fine embroidery.