The bearded man is depicted at his full height. He is turned three-quarters to the right. He is dressed in a light green shirt with two pink patches and pink knee-length pants. The man is barefoot. A shirt is girded with a belt tied as a bow underneath a man's prominent belly. He is wearing a straw conical hat on his head. There is a carrying pole on the blacksmith's left shoulder. In the basket on the left end of the shoulder pole is a metal bellow and a hammer; on the right end is a hanging anvil. The etching comes from the album "Chinese Customs and National Costumes", which includes 60 images of Chinese people engaged in various activities. An explanation in German accompanies each image; some 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.