The artist was the son of Thomas Davidson (exh. 1880-1908), a painter of history and genre. He studied at the St John's Wood Art School and the Royal Academy Schools, then at Julian's in Paris. He taught at the Central School and exhibited at the RA (1898-1931), the Society of British Artists (member 1901), and elsewhere.

The present picture belongs to a tradition going back to Whistler's Japanese subjects of the 1860s and '70s, by way of paintings inspired by visits to Japan by Whistler's pupil Mortimer Menpes (1887), Alfred East (1889) and the two 'Glasgow Boys', George Henry and E.A. Hornel (1893-4). The last could be particularly significant if Davidson had Scottish connections. His name suggests that he did, but both he and his father seem to have spent most of their lives in London.

The picture's title is taken from Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy opera The Mikado, first staged in March 1885.