This painting is on glass rather than the usual canvas or paper. The image was painted on the back of the glass, so that the viewer sees the picture by looking through the glass. The artist who produced the work therefore had to paint everything in reverse. Chinese glass paintings, using imported glass, were popular in Europe from the 18th century onward and many were made specifically for export, usually in the port city of Canton (Guangzhou). Reverse glass paintings showing images of beautiful women were particularly popular, as were port views, bird-and-flower paintings, and scenes of daily life. This example shows a high-class woman seated with a fan, which is inscribed with extracts from two poems of the Tang dynasty. On the right half of the fan is 'Morning Levee at Daming Palace' by Jia Zhi (718–772 CE), and on the left is 'The Riverside Village' by Du Fu (712–770 CE).