The vase features a portrait of the Protestant theologian Martin Luther, enclosed in a medallion and with the names Martinus Lutherus written at the bottom. The portrait of the German theologian Luther appears in several examples of Chinese export porcelain.

This specific example may have been executed after mezzotint prints made in 1714-15 by John Faber the Elder (c.1660-1721), a portrait miniaturist and printmaker born in the Netherlands and subsequently active in London around 1696-98. The print, part of a set of twenty-one plates devoted to Protestant reformers, depicts the theologian at half length in an oval frame, and bears at the bottom an inscription with his name in Latin and dates.

Protestant teachings were still dominant in Europe during the first half of the 18th century, especially in the Netherlands, and it is likely that copies of books with Luther's teachings and prints of Protestant reformers circulated widely. The Chinese decorators copied the originals with some degree of freedom. They omitted the dates of birth and added rococo scrolls around the oval medallion, an unusual decorative detail considering the subject.