Illustration of the Landing and Advance to Weihaiwei

A snow-covered field under a grey sky forms the setting for this triptych, in which heavily hooded soldiers in dappled black-and-white fur coats stand and advance through falling snow. In the center panel a mounted officer, wrapped in the same fur-trimmed hood and coat, sits on a horse draped in a plaid checkered blanket, breath visible in the cold air; behind him rows of helmeted infantry hold sloped rifles with fixed bayonets, their forms fading into the grey background. Flanking swordsmen with fur-cuffed coats and light blue-hilted sabers stand at either side in the left and right panels, all rendered in a muted palette of greys, browns, and whites with a title cartouche and vertical text inscriptions along the top and left edges.