Yang Boda discusses the diversity of such 'potted landscapes' or 'potted flowers' in Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, Catalogue, p.55. All media could be employed, organic and inorganic to recreate miniature plants and rockeries 'for the viewing enjoyment of the emperor and his concubines within the living halls of the palace complex'. As in the present example, the assembly carried some kind of auspicious meaning, either through a rebus, or its intrinsic symbolism.
The lingzhi motif is also used issuing from a gu vase from the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Works of Art Series, vol.10, Gold, Silver, Glass and Enamels, p.195, no.348 and again in a gilt-copper gu vase from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, included in the Special Exhibition of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, Catalogue, p.250, no.104. A variety of hardstone or metalwork decorative plants are featured in the Forbidden City. Cf. The Forbidden City, Forbidden City Press, pl.85