Each plate is finely decorated at the centre with a composition depicting an elegant lady seated on a rock, watching two young boys playing nearby. The scene is set in a wooded garden adorned with banana leaves and pierced rocks, before a wall with a circular window through which scholarly objects can be seen. The young woman holds a brush in her left hand, while a grid-patterned sheet is placed on the rock—most likely an exercise paper (mi zhi, 蜜紙), used for practicing brush-written characters or sketching pictorial compositions. The rim is decorated with a wide border of vines and insects, painted in famille rose enamels, with a gilt edge.