This dish with incised dragon patterns on the exterior demonstrates the attractive use of a monochrome yellow glaze at Jingdezhen. This colour glaze was used to decorate court porcelain from the 15th to early 20th centuries. During the Ming dynasty, they appear to have been reserved for the sole use of the imperial court in the same way that purple was retained for the private use of the rulers of Rome. They were also sometimes given as diplomatic gifts to rulers in South Asia and the Middle East, like the Mughal emperor Jahangir (reigned 1605–1627), who is known to have owned at least one monochrome yellow dish made during the reign of the Hongzhi emperor (1487–1505). The colour was achieved by firing the ceramics twice, first at a high temperature of around 1280 to 1320 °C and then in a second, lower–temperature firing to vitrify the iron–pigmented glaze.
