This dish belongs to a very rare group of moulded gourd vessels enhanced with carved cinnabar lacquer. It is also important in that it is a marked piece of lacquer among the limited examples from the Kangxi reign. An identical dish with the same Shangwan marks was sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2002, lot 523. There are also examples of gourd dishes with black lacquer interiors, sometimes enhanced with gilt decoration, such as the two bowls with Kangxi shangwan marks, illustrated by G. Tsang and H. Moss, in the Handbook to Chinese Decorated Gourds, International Asian Antiques Fair, Hong Kong, 1983, no. 2.