This bracket-lobed dish has been particularly well-formed so that the lotus petals in the cavetto are well defined on both the interior and exterior. The form, which orginated in metalwork, also became popular in porcelain in the late 14th century; see an underglaze-blue decorated dish excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan in 1994, illustrated in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1996, p. 134, no. 35.

The porcelain examples of the Hongwu period (1368-98) followed the more complex style, seen on the current lacquer dish, of continuing the lobing into the foot ring. However, bracket-lobed dishes without cavetto lobing were made in Ding ware in the 12th century as in the case of a dish in the British Museum, London, illustrated by J. Rawson (ed.), The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, 1992, p. 219, pl. 160. These were also made on lacquer similar to the example in the Shoto Museum of Art, 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Chinese Lacquer, Tokyo, 1991, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 12; one in the Lee collection, included in the exhibition, Drache und Phoenix Lackarbeiten aus China: Sammlung der Familie Lee, Tokyo, Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst der Stadt Koln, 1990, and illustrated in the Catalogue, pp. 72-3, no. 23; and another dated to the 13th century, now in the Metropolitan Museum, illustrated by J. Watt and B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, New York, 1992, pp. 114-5, no. 48. These were the predecessors of the more complex dishes with petal-shaped cavettos such as the current dish.