The present pair of massive basins are interesting as they depict the subject-matter of a lotus pond from the viewpoint of being underwater among the fish, as seen on the interior of the basins, and as befits the function of the vessels. At the same time, it provides another visual level as if viewed from above water, as depicted on the exterior with the birds and insects in flight over half-submerged lotus plants.

The composition of the interior of the basin compares very closely with that enamelled on a basin in the Pierre Uldry Collection, illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné, The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, pl. 322, with deer and cranes in landscape on the exterior. The pair to the Uldry basin is in the Avery Brundage Collection, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and is illustrated by W. Watson, The Art of Dynastic China, London, 1981, fig. 678.

Cf. a possible prototype for the decoration on this lot, which is a late Ming dynasty cloisonné enamel jar in the Palace Museum, Beijing, decorated with egrets in a lotus pond with fish and other aquatic creatures swimming below, illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 62.