Emma Mulvad was taught by the Danish porcelain painter Lauritz Rasmus Lyngbye (1809–1869) and by the Norwegian marine painter Hans Jahn (1834–1902). She mainly painted flowers, but also made paintings of animals, such as the present painting. Together with her three sisters, she won a gold medal in 1870 for a terracotta decoration at the World Exhibition in London. Mulvad also decorated ceramics for P. Ipsen's Widow's Terracotta Factory. She also made illustrations for Niels Kjærbølling's “Birds of Denmark”. Mulvad made her debut at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in 1858 and exhibited there several times until 1889.