The shape of this vase is modelled on a well-known Chinese original, the most famous example of which is the pair of blue and white vases in the Percival David Collection dated 1351 AD. The colour scheme here is however closer to the Fahua pieces of the sixteenth century. This, coupled with the grainy mediaeval body of the present vase which would make a seventeenth century date unlikely, fully supports an early Safavid date.