Chinoiserie silver, with flat-chased decoration in the "Chinese taste", enjoyed a brief period of high popularity in England during the 17th century, from about 1678 until 1688. The similarity of the decorative elements found on such pieces would indicate that a specialist workshop was employed to decorate the pieces once they had been manufactured. Sources for this work are difficult to trace, but the English translation of John Nienhoff's account of his voyage as part of a Dutch East India Company Embassy to the Emperor of China, which appeared in 1669, does seem to have provided inspiration for some of the designs.