Recent excavations at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen have determined that porcelain covered with a warm white glaze, often called 'sweet white wares' (tian bai), were among the most popular ceramics produced during the rule of Yongle (r. 1403-1424), the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. Over 95 percent of the ceramics unearthed from the strata dating tothis period are white wares, suggesting that imperial taste contributed substantially to the production of this type of ceramic. Moreover, Yongle is known to have patronized the construction in 1412 of a nine-story pagoda at the Bao'en temple in Nanjing,and the choice of white bricks to cover this structure further attests to his preference for plainer wares.

This porcelain bowl typifies the white wares produced during Yongle's reign. Both the interior and exterior of the bowl are decorated with incised motifs: plantain leaves and chrysanthemum flowers on the interior, a chrysanthemum spray and geometric key-fret design on the exterior. Difficult to see at first glance, decoration of this type is often termed anhua, or 'hidden decoration,' and was very popular in the early Ming period, at least in part because of the imperial taste for plain white wares.

Yongle's preference for white wares is quite different from the taste for brightly colored underglaze blue and copper-red wares of thelate 14th century; several reasons have been proposed to explain this change in imperial taste. White is the color of filial piety and mourning, and it is possible that Yongle's choice of ceramics was partially intended to mitigate the circumstances underwhich he came to rule: Yongle spent the first four years of his reign publicly grieving for the father whose wishes he had ignored when he usurped the throne. However, white wares were also esteemed during the Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, and Yongle may have fostered their production to claim a link to this illustrious past.