The present stembowl with its unusually rounded, rather than flaring, sides is closer in form to its prototypes produced in the Yuan period. It is interesting to note that the centre of the interior is decorated with undulating ruyi cloud; this pattern also appears on the interior of a moulded deep bowl dated to the Hongwu period from the George Eumorfopoulos Collection, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, British Museum Press, 2001, p. 86, fig. 2:3, for a detailed line drawing of the dragon and ruyi cloud design.

Excavations at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the 1980s indicated that a quantity of innovative white wares, some decorated with anhua designs, including stembowls were produced for imperial ceremonial use. For a further discussion cf. Liu Xinyuan, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 58-59. Compare also two bowls both with flared sides and each bearing anhua Yongle reign mark, the first in the British Museum, J. Harrison-Hall, op. cit., p. 98, fig. 3:1; and the other from the Brankston Collection, illustrated by R. Kerr (ed.), Chinese Art and Design, London, 1991, p. 176, fig. 80 (right).