Basin with birds in a lotus pond 14th century China Large bronze basins functioned as water containers for daily use and can be traced back to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). While drawing inspiration from the traditional basin form, the artist modeled the tightly arranged lotus pond with birds after the popular design used to decorate blue-and-white porcelain made for the West Asia market during the fourteenth century.. Basin with birds in a lotus pond. China. 14th century. Bronze. Yuan (1271-1368)-Ming (1368-1644) dynasty. Metalwork