A man with a beard, in a straw hat, is depicted in profile with a turn to the right. He is wearing a gray shirt and trousers. On his shoulders there is a short cape. There are torn fabric shoes on his feet. The man is resting upon a wooden structure in the form of two pairs of parallel bars knocked together at an angle of 90 degrees ("L") and connected to one another. The man is accompanied by a dog, which is trained to step on the end of the bar that hits a small wooden vessel. There is also a willow bowl for alms in the beggar’s hand. The etching comes from the album "Chinese Customs and National Costumes", which includes 60 images of Chinese people engaged in various activities. Each image is accompanied by an explanation in German; some of them are written in French. In the eighteenth century, artists in Canton (Guangzhou) in southern China created such paintings for Europeans seeking to learn more about China and its people.