In the 14th century, blue and white porcelain was primarily manufactured to foreign taste, mainly for Near Eastern markets. In the 15th century, when domestic orders increased, the wares were adjusted in motif and shape to Chinese preferences. This scene depicting the arts of the scholar gentleman is typical of the conventional pictorial motifs introduced. Such scenes show scholars practicing the arts of literature, music, poetry, and painting in gardens of banana, cherry, and bamboo while contemplating the unending process of nature figured in the landscape beyond the walls or brought within the garden on standing screens.