The figures depicted are Emperor Wu (reigned 502-550) of the Liang Dynasty and his friend, the Daoist sage Tao Hongjing (451-536). Shown in the painting is Tao Hongjing demonstrating to the emperor some of the secrets he has discovered in his search for immortality. Tao also wrote his discoveries regarding longevity and immortality in his Pujue Zhouhoufang.

Another version of Tao Hongjing and Emperor Wu being offered the elixir of immortality by a tiny figure in a gourd that is attributed to Chen Hongshou is now in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (Li Chu-Tsing, A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, Ascona, 1974, no. 4). While the figures and their setting is very similar to the painting offered, the surrounding landscape is limited to only a few trees and rocks and the painting style is quite different. The 1638 painting includes the crisp brushwork, fantastically shaped natural elements and cartoon-like figures for which the artist is best known. These characteristics are also found in Chen Hongshou's elaborate and more complicated depiction of Lady Xuanwenjun and her court, which is also dated to 1638, in the Cleveland Museum (Cleveland Museum of Art, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1980, no. 208.