A heavy snow flies and covers clumps of bamboo and the opposite bank. A fisherman stands huddled and covering his mouth against the cold. His bamboo hat and straw coat are covered with snowflakes to suggest bone-chilling cold. For the snow-covered bamboo, the artist did not use the usual method in which the blank paper or silk indicates snow. Instead, he used white pigment. The subject of this work derives from the last line of the poem "The Theme of Snow" by the T'ang dynasty (618-907) poet Cheng Ku:

       I drift from a monk's hut with the scent of tea,
And drink wine with abandon in a tavern with girls.
Late at night, the river looks like a painting,
A fisherman pulls his clothes on his way home.