This magnificent box is unique. No other porcelain object is recorded simulating fine enamels on metal executed to such a high standard. The unusually thick enamels have been applied in layers, giving this box the weight and further appearance of the finest quality Beijing enamelled metalwork.

The use of a single blossom to provide the main decoration for a box or jar lid was favoured in many media from at least as early as the Tang dynasty. A small lacquer box dating to the late 14th-early 15th century was sold in these Rooms, 30 April 2001, lot 633, which had a lid formed as a lotus flower surrounding a seed pod. In the same sale, lot 562, was a cloisonné enamel box from the Xuande reign (1426-35), which, like the current box is elegantly formal with the petals divided into two distinct concentric circles and the leaves, proportionately smaller and equally spaced around the blossom. This formal style is reminiscent of certain European decoration and may have been influenced by the Jesuit missionaries at the court. However, the design retains some of the Chinese naturalistic approach by deliberately avoiding complete regularity or symmetry in the treatment of the individual petals. The folding over of petal and leaf edges is particularly effectively reproduced. The leaves are given an almost luminous appearance, by the fact that the slightly transparent green enamel allows the blue underneath to show through where the enamel is thinner.