Note: The combination of magnolia, crab apple and peony forms a rebus popular at the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing dynasties, yu tang fu gui (wealth and rank in the Jade Hall) a literary reference to the famous Hanlin Academy. The fame of the academy was such that admission to the illustrious academy became synonymous with a voyage to Yingzhou, a mythical island in the Eastern Sea inhabited by the Immortals. Literary themes were prominent in all the arts during the Kangxi period. Qing imperial taste supported a continuation of late Ming aesthetics but the rise in themes of scholarly aspiration was due largely to the rise of a wealthy merchant class supporting the arts. Superlative luxury items such as the present panel would have been appropriate in the Imperial household and also would be have been much sought after by those with great wealth hoping to achieve lasting familial success through a son's scholarly rise and success.