A member of the Donggo clan, Tiebao belonged to the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner army. As an official in the Qing court, he endured considerable vicissitude and his career was never smooth. Celebrated as a man of letters, he oversaw the publications of the Manchu military system as well as an anthology of poems by members of the imperial family and other Manchu dignitaries. In calligraphy, he was regarded as the equal of such eighteenth-century luminaries as Liu Yong (1720-1805) and Weng Fanggang (1733-1818). This handscroll is a work of his mature years and is exemplary of his disciplined and highly subtle approach to the art of calligraphy.