Chrysanthemums bloom over a prunus branch in the center of this dish. Exported from China in the 1700s, lotus-shaped dishes like these were popular in Middle Eastern, European, and American markets. While lotus flowers have symbolic associations with purity and enlightenment in Buddhist and Hindu cultures, the meaning was probably lost on an American collector in the 1700s, who likely would never have seen a pink lotus plant in person but might have admired its beauty.