The form and style of this dish is based on a Song-Yuan dynasty prototype: see, for example, Shih and Ge, Age of the Great Khan: Pluralism in Chinese Art and Culture under the Mongols, no. IV-24, p. 132, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The shape, however, is more rounded and the carving of the pommel scrolls somewhat flatter, indicating a mid Ming-date. For examples of tixi lacquer dated mid-Ming, see Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum,Beijing, 1985, nos. 167 and 168; and Nishioka, Chinese Lacquerware, no. 24, p. 29.