The identity of Haeyŏk (海睪) remains unconfirmed, though the name is most likely a Buddhist dharma name. This is an ink plum painting (mugmaedo) of unusual compositional character: a slender plum branch rising upward is placed at the center of a vertically oriented picture surface, while an old trunk is disposed diagonally in the lower portion. In plum paintings of the late Chosŏn period, compositions featuring dramatically twisted and contorted branches with blossoms spread in full profusion across the entire picture surface are common; a nearly straight, vertically ascending form of this kind is comparatively rare, appearing in only one or two works among the plum paintings of Chŏn Ki (田琦).

The branches are drawn with careful restraint in boneless (molgol) technique using dilute ink, and the individual blossoms are rendered one by one with conscientious attention in a manner that might be described as textbook-perfect in its formal propriety. The overall impression is one of crisp, well-ordered composure; yet what saves the plum from appearing merely delicate and lacking in vigor is the play of large and small concentrated ink dots applied in an orderly row to one side of the branches. Even these dots, however, are organized into groups of three or four, applied with a consistent directional orientation and entirely contained within the defining boundaries of the forms, so that the prevailing sense of quiet orderliness is maintained throughout.

The painting bears an inscription in Ch'usa-style calligraphy (ch'usa-ch'e) — a verse in praise of the plum blossom: "In the corner of the wall, a few branches of plum have opened against the bitter cold, with singular resolve. From a distance, one can tell it is not snow — for a faint fragrance drifts quietly this way. (墙角數枝梅 凌寒特地開 遙知不是雪 考有暗香來)"