The bowl is exceptional in its execution and is a tribute to the high quality of jade work at the Qianlong court, with the simple design highlighting the beauty of the stone matrix. The four-character kaishu mark on the underside was reserved for prestigious pieces. For another Qianlong jade vessel inscribed with the same mark, see a 'dragon' vase of gu form from the Qing Court Collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Shanghai, 2008, pg.157, no.118. A related bowl, formerly in the collection of Heber R. Bishop, Jiaqing four-character mark and of the period, is in the holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 02.18.701.