The practice of mourning one’s parents or teacher by attending them at their grave is known already from the time of Confucius. The figure in the present painting would be the filial Liu, who commissioned the painting to record his exemplary behavior.
Shao Mi was characterized by an early biographer as “a recluse. His poetry and painting were highly prized by the people of Wu (Suzhou) but he lived in seclusion at Guazhou and called himself ‘The Old Man of Guazhou.” Something of the refined and fastidious nature of the man himself is suggested by the visual characteristics of the brushwork of the present painting.