According to oral histories, these large vases were owned by residents of Baltimore. They are typical of wares exported to the West in the latter days of the China trade. Elaborately decorated with standard Chinese motifs such as lions, dragons, bats, peaches, and pomegranates, the vases also depict figures in scenes the mirror each other, suggesting they were designed as a pair. The two were made at either the kilns of Jingdezhen or those of Guangdong, where some of the most elaborately painted export wares were decorated. It is thought that the vases were damaged when they were dropped during off-loading from a ship docked at Fells Point, Baltimore. Whether the tale is apocryphal or not, the vases were deemed worthy of repair. Metal staples holding the vases together date from the mid-19th century.