The painting features a Wisdom King (Chinese: 明王), a type of wrathful deity found in East Asian Buddhism. This portrait of a Wisdom King is from the Ming dynasty, or the 15th century, from Baoning Temple in Shanxi, China.

Unlike most cultures which often depict five main Wisdom Kings, Chinese portrayals of Wisdom Kings usually feature eight or ten main Wisdom Kings. This painting was created as part of a set of ten produced for a ceremony conducted over the span of 7 to 49 days known as Liberation Rite of Water and Land that was meant to invite entities of higher realms to help release those of the lower realms from their sufferings. The ceremony was compiled by Chan Buddhist master Bao Zhi and attributed to Emperor Wu of Liang, of whom it is said one night dreamt of a monk who advised him to organize a ceremony to help beings in lower realms be relieved of their suffering. It is one of the most expensive and elaborate rituals to conduct as well as being known as one of the greatest rituals in Chinese Buddhism and is still performed in Chinese Buddhist temples today.

Modern-day performances of this ritual will often make use of reprints of old paintings, including this set of paintings. The Wisdom King depicted here is Trailokyavijaya (Chinese: 降三世明王), or the Wrathful manifestation of Akshobhya.

This painting portrays Wuzhun Shifan (1178-1249), a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and prominent Zen Buddhist monk of the late Song dynasty, sitting in a lotus posture. A Buddhist abbot at the Temple of Mount Jingshan, he was given the title Fojian Yuanzhao Chanshi (Mirror of the Buddha, Zen Teacher, Chinese: 佛鉴禅师) after discussing Dharma with Emperor Lizong of Song, as well as the gold-embroidered kaśaya worn in the portrait.

He had great influence over Zen Buddhism especially, and one of his disciples, Enni Ben'en (Chinese: 圓爾辯圓 ; 1201–1280; Shoichi Kokushi) brought his teachings to Japan, bringing about greater acceptance for the Zen teaching in Japan and aided in the establishment of a temple in Kyoto. This portrait was also taken by Enni Ben’en to Japan in 1241, and today still remains at the temple he established.