The bowl was originally used for food and would have had a shallow domed lid to keep the contents warm. Its interior is painted with an unidentified coat of arms, possibly of a Dutch or English family. The vessel, which once formed part of a larger dinner service, would have been ordered by a European family through the Dutch, French, or English East India Company, a fairly common practice in the 1700s.

French merchants, known as marchands-merciers, would have purchased the bowl and stand separately and then directed a bronze worker to mount the two together. In doing so, he indiscriminately united a Japanese stand and a bowl from China. The French owner probably would not have recognized the Chinese or Japanese identity of the vessels, merely viewing them as attractive, exotic decorations.