The present Buddhist prayer wheel is inscribed with a six-syllable Sanskrit inscription in cursive script that is identified as the Kalachakra, or the Time Wheel, mantra. It is also translated as the Time-Cycles which revolves round the concept of the cycles of the planets, cycles of breath and the practice of controlling the most subtle energies within the body on the path to enlightenment. Upon turning the axle inserted within the cylinder, an inner sutra scroll revolves, with each revolution representing the recitation of the sutra. Racks of prayer wheels are found in many Buddhist temples which can be spun by followers in a procession, from right to left.

The workmanship of the present cloisonné enamel prayer wheel is unusually fine and delicate, and would most certainly have been used for worship in one of the temples within the Forbidden City.

Compare with the incomplete cloisonné enamel Tibetan prayer wheel, lacking the outer casing, dated to the 19th century, illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, 1989, pl. 343. Two gilt-copper prayer wheels of similar design were included in A Special Exhibition of Buddhist Gilt Votive Objects, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1995, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 14.