Series of these dishes, in four related patterns, were ordered in China in the 1720s with the arms of the principle towns and provinces of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands, plus the arms of England and France. 23 different arms seem to comprise each series. Documentary evidence of this order has yet to come to light, but C. Le Corbeiller has pointed out that the spellings suggest a Dutch clientele, and that the grouping suggests the borders of this region after the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1717 a Triple Alliance marked the new rapport of England, France and the Netherlands, and Le Corbeiller posits that the dishes may have commemorated this development. (China Trade Porcelain, pp. 37-39). Dr. C.J.A. Jorg notes that it is unclear why certain arms appear again and again, while other quite major centers like Haarlem and Leiden are not represented at all.