This painting is believed to be a copy created in the Xining reign of the Song dynasty. The original was created during the very short Liang dynasty (502 to 556 CE), and is attributed to Xiao Yi, seventh sun of the Liang emperor Wudi. Later, Xiao Yi himself would ascend to the Liang throne for the last two years of his life, taking the reign name Yuandi.

The painting is a depiction of envoys from the various kingdoms with diplomatic relations with the Liang court. Originally there were twenty-five portraits, but sometime in the painting's history it was separated and reconfigured, with only twelve standing portraits remaining in this scroll. Each of the portraits is followed by an inscription that describes the geography and customs of each of the countries represented by the envoys, as well as the nature of their relationship with the kingdom of Liang. Some of the names of the kingdoms are recognizable to us today, but most are not identifiable. This is partly due to the fact that much of Asia was rather unstable during the early sixth century, and the names of many small, short-lived kingdoms (some little more than walled cities) of Central Asia are lost to us today. Furthermore, the names have been translated into Chinese script, making their identification even more difficult.

When the scroll was divided (this is believed to have occurred sometime in the 19th century), the inscription of the Hua envoy was removed, as was the last part of the inscription for the Mo envoy. The first half of the inscription for the envoy of Wo is present, but the second half was substituted with an inscription for another envoy from an unnamed nation (the portrait has been removed).

According to the inscriptions, the countries of origin for the twelve envoys are listed as follows:

Top, right to left:  Hua, Bosi (Persia), Baiji (Korean kingdom of Paekche), Quici, Wo (Japan).

Bottom, right to left:  Langyaxiu, Dongzhi, Zhouguke, Hebatan, Humidan, Baiti, Mo

Not only does this painting allow us a glimpse of the various costumes of the different peoples represented, it also gives us a glimpse into the Liang dynasty's political relations, as well the Liang court's evaluations of the cultural practices of its neighboring kingdoms.