This vase belongs to a group of similarly shaped vases painted with figural scenes and stylised tulips, which suggests that they may have been made for the Dutch market. One such vase appears in a Dutch still-life, probably painted before 1646, and is illustrated by A. Spriggs, "Oriental Porcelain in Western Paintings 1450-1700", Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol. 36, 1964-66, pl. 72c. Another foreign influence found on these vases is their shape, as mentioned by Yutaka Mino and James Robinson, Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 264-5, who point out that the form appears to be of Turkish inspiration, copying either a metal flask, or an Iznik pottery version of the same shape from the mid-16th century.

The vase from the Eli Lilly collection was included in the University of Chicago exhibition, Blue and White Chinese Porcelain and Its Impact on the Western World, illustrated by John Carswell in the Catalogue, no. 63. Other similar vases include one in the British Museum, illustrated by Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1971, pl. III, fig. 1; and another included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, illustrated in the Catalogue, 1981, no. 70.