The use of cobalt blue on a porcelain body first appeared in the eighth century C.E. and is arguably the most important development in ceramic history. The flowering of the "blue-and-white porcelain" type—porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a clear glaze—took place in the fourteenth century, when China was under the control of the Mongols and possessed familial, economic, and diplomatic ties to porcelain centers in West Asia. The somewhat haphazard placement of the plantain, grapes, melons, and other elements on this dish reflects the style of textiles imported from the western reaches of Central Asia. The design also illustrates the complex intermingling of Chinese and West Asian styles found on early blue-and-white examples.