In the Admonitions scroll we find that a lady ought never to exploit the manners or weaknesses of her man. The only time that a lady should put herself before the emperor is to protect him from danger. Another scene in the scroll illustrates a true event, when a ferocious black bear escaped from its enclosure, during a show put on for the emperor and the ladies of his harem. In this particular scene we first see two harem ladies, running away from the wild beast but looking back in horror. We next see the emperor seated, frozen with shock, and in front of him the valiant lady, who has not run away but has rushed to place herself between the emperor and the bear, which is leaping at her, snarling fiercely. But the emperor is safe. This, the picture tells us, is the kind of self-sacrifice we need and expect from our great ladies.

This scroll became the prized possession of many emperors, who may have found it to be a useful aid in subduing troublesome wives and mistresses, but who also admired its sheer beauty, and used the act of collecting this precious masterpiece as a way of showing just how culturally astute and powerful they were. We can know exactly whose courts it was viewed in, because each imperial ruler has left their mark on it, in the form of a stamp carefully placed in the blank spaces around the paintings and the calligraphy. Some of the previous owners have also added their own comments to the scroll.