This charming object was directly influenced by eighteenth-century prototypes, which were conceived as inkwells, or stands for miniature globes or brûles-parfum. Most commonly executed using Chantilly porcelain painted with Kakiemon flowers, comparable models for the latter two types of use are preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (obj. no. 2004.361.3 and 4). and at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto (acc. no. G83.1.1069.1-2), respectively. Chantilly produced these figures with variations in the pose, some with nodding heads and seated cross-legged, such as the one sold Christie's, New York, 21 May 1997, lot 64. In some cases, the figures hold a vase between their knees (see G. Le Duc, Porcelaine Tendre de Chantilly au XVIII Siècle, Paris, 1996, p. 91). Interestingly, the porcelain rim of the bowl of both stands is painted with the signs of the Zodiac, but whereas the New York example is set with an ormolu globe, the one in Toronto is fitted with a porcelain-mounted spherical gilt bronze perfume burner. It has been suggested that the incorporation of the globe in the New York stand could allude to China’s advanced understanding of astronomy during the eighteenth century.