The scene depicts the resourceful Shiba Onko, the statesman and historian of the Song dynasty, who rescues his drowning friend from a large jar by throwing stones to break the vat and release the water. Very popular in late seventeenth-century Japan, Shiba Onko was one of few figure subjects incorporated into designs by the Arita enamellers. Appropriating the charm of the design over any didactic connotation, Chinese export kilns and the German factory Meissen reproduced the pattern around 1730. Dutch enamellers recreated it on porcelain fired in China or Japan between 1710 and 1735. The English factory Chelsea released the pattern, known by the soubriquet 'Hob in the well' around 1755.