The bowl is painted on the outside with cranes in a variety of postures, some standing, some in flight. The mark 'Shende Tang zhi' (made for the Hall of Prudent Virtue) is written in overglaze red enamel on the base. Shende Tang was the residence of the Daoguang Emperor in the Yuanming Yuan (also called the Old Summer Palace) in the north-west suburbs of Beijing. Porcelains with this mark were imperial ware for his personal use. The Hall was completed in 1831, thus the group of Shende Tang porcelains can be precisely dated to the 20 years between 1831 and 1850, the year when the Daoguang Emperor died.

There are no less than 30 types of imperial Shende Tang porcelains extant in public and private collections, mostly in the shape of bowls, dishes and vases. The majority are overglaze enamel-decorated, and the mark is usually written in iron red, although the Taoya says there are occasional ones in gold. Incidentally the Taoya mentions a bowl 'with flights of cranes on a yellow ground and marked Shende Tang', a description that perfectly fits the present bowl, though Jiyuan Sou considered it as 'inferior to Qianlong pieces with magpies'.

It should be noted, however, that not all Shende Tang vessels are imperial ware. This mark appears on folk wares of the Kangxi and Republican (1911-1937) periods.