While dishes of this type are well known from the Kangxi period, the present piece is an unusual example: it has been potted with a flat everted rim that is accentuated with two incised lines running around it. More common are larger dishes (c. 40 cm) with a broader everted rim decorated with dragons; see one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Gugong cang ci. Qing cai ci/ Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Enamelled Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1969, pl. 7; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains and Plain Tricoloured Porcelains. Shanghai, 2009, pl. 205; and a third dish from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980,  pl. 197. Dishes closer to the size of the present (c. 35 cm) are generally potted with rounded sides; one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Yeh Pei-Lang, Beauty of Ceramics, vol. 7: Gems of Wucai Porcelain, Taipei, 1996, pl. 281; and another was sold at Christie’s New York, 20th March 2014, lot 2177.

The early Manchu emperors adopted various court practices from the preceding Ming dynasty including the allocation of imperial wares, whereby vessels adorned with five-clawed dragons were reserved for the emperor and his close family. Stricter rules concerning the colours of the ware were also set to further signify the supreme status of the imperial household.  This hierarchical-colour coding is discussed by He Li in Chinese Ceramics. The New Standard Guide, London, 1996, p. 266, where the author notes that porcelain decorated with dragons against a yellow ground on both the interior and exterior of the vessel, such as the present piece, was made for the exclusive use by the emperor and empress.