The style and workmanship of this dish are typical of the metalwork produced in the prosperous cities of southern China in the Southern Song period (1127–1279).

The theme of children at play, expressive of a wish both for children and for the pleasure they bring, is a ubiquitous motif in Chinese decorative arts from as early as the tenth century. Some of the individual groupings, such as the two boys on the left—one riding a hobbyhorse, the other holding a lotus leaf over his companion like a parasol—continued to appear in works of art until the seventeenth century. In the garden's background is seen the early development of certain standard features of later Chinese gardens, such as the cluster of leafy plants with rocks and the balustrade enclosing a lotus pond. A delicate diaper pattern enhances the rim of the plate.