These paintings in six separate panels, which originally formed a folding screen, depict the upright reigns of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (三皇五帝) of a mythical age and of the sage kings from the ancient Xia (夏), Shang (商), and Zhou (周) Dynasties. The first panel illustrates Fuxi (伏羲氏) inventing the Eight Trigrams (八卦) for divination; the second shows Shennong (神農氏) teaching farming; in the third, Emperor Shun (舜) plays the zither; the fourth panel presents Great Yu (大禹) controlling the waters; the fifth illustrates King Tang of the Shang Dynasty (商湯王) releasing birds caught in a net; and in the sixth, King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty (周文王) settles a dispute between neighboring countries. In the upper section of each panel, the lesson presented in the image is briefly detailed. These paintings are presumed to have been created by a court painter of the Royal Academy of Painting (圖畫署, Dohwaseo) in the early nineteenth century in emulation of the composition and painting style of Kim Hong-do (金弘道, 1745‒after 1806).