As a female artist who sold her paintings, Ma's art style is markedly different from both that of the imperial court and contemporary "talented young ladies" (Chinese: 名媛).
[2] She made bird and flower paintings to sell when she and her husband encountered financial difficulties.
[1] Ma's subjects include butterflies, bees, and dragonflies, with modern critics identifying her brushwork as very controlled producing particularly fine strokes.
[3] To one painting of chrysanthemums, Ma added a poem about how she has no place to plant such flowers but can tend them with her brush.
[2] The later Qing artist Tai Zuyong (Chinese: 秦祖永) described her paintings as having alluring brushwork of serene interest.