Li Jin has often cited the influence of his extended stays in Tibet on his later practice. The painting is one of ten from his ‘Tibetan fine line’ series created between 1985 and 1994, and one of only six that are still extant. Created in the painstaking gongbi style of fine-brush painting, which is characterised by detail, precision and vivid hues, the work took several months to complete. It was executed in mineral pigments, including yellows and blues the artist brought from Tibet, with Li painting them directly onto a cotton bedsheet stretched over a frame; a substitute for the appliqué used in Tibetan painting. The work draws freely and imaginatively on Tibetan Buddhist iconography and composition, appropriating its symmetrical, top-heavy structure and various stylistic elements into an intense tableau, populated by a menagerie of dragons, demons, deities and anthropomorphised creatures.