Ma's subjects include butterflies, bees, and dragonflies, with modern critics identifying her brushwork as very controlled producing particularly fine strokes. She mainly painted flowers and birds seen in an ordinary garden, contrasting with the paintings of the imperial court. 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. In comparison with Ma Yuanyu, Ma Quan's works have been described as similarly realist, but capable of conveying an aesthetic essence. The later Qing artist Tai Zuyong () described her paintings as having alluring brushwork of serene interest. Ma was strongly influenced by
Song dynasty art styles, which she expresses in her frequent tags that an image had been painted in the "style of the Song". Ma's paintings have been compared with those of
Yun Bing (), another female artist in the
Jiangsu region and the aunt of
Yun Zhu. Whilst Yun was known for her skill in painting subjects without outlines (), Ma was skilled at creating paintings with defined silhouettes (). ==Gallery==