For a discussion of this form see Sargent, The Copeland Collection, p. 202, where he describes the 18th century European faience and porcelain examples that derived from the medieval English Christmas tradition of serving with an actual boar's head. The author also reports that the Dutch East India Company orders of 1763-4 are the only official commissions known to have been recorded of the form, and notes that this is its largest known size.