Lu Ji (Rikuseki) Explaining to His Host that He Had Taken Two Extra Oranges to His Parents, from the series A Mirror for Children of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety

One day six-year-old Lù Jī 陸績, Rikuseki in Japanese, accompanied his father on a visit to a wealthy neighbor, who gave the guests mandarin oranges. At the end of the visit when they were thanking the host, the oranges fell out of Lù Jī’s sleeves—he had never eaten them. The host laughed and asked why the boy was hiding the oranges, and Lù Jī knelt down and replied that he was saving them to give to his mother, who liked them. The host was impressed with the boy’s devotion to his mother.

The setting has many elements borrowed from European prints: the arch to the left, the boats in the distance, and the vase-shaped balusters in the yellow railings behind them. However, the dress, cap, and hairstyles of the figures follow Chinese models.