This unusual synthesis of the wucai and doucai styles on the same vessel originated in the Zhengtong period (1436-1449), while the ducks-in-lotus-pond theme was typical of the decorative style of the Xuande period. A bowl with a very similar decoration excavated from the Zhengtong stratum of the Imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen is illustrated by R. Scott, Orientations, April 1992, fig. 12; and for a Xuande prototype of this pattern, cf. Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, no. 89.

Cf. a similar Qianlong-marked bowl illustrated in the exhibition, Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Hong Kong, 1973, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 90.