The bowl is decorated to the exterior with four roundels enclosing the characters 'shan gao shui chang' in seal script (which means 'as high as the mountains and as long as the rivers', surrounded by the Eight Buddhist Emblems supported on scrolling lotus, all below a ruyi-head band to the rim and lappets to the foot. The base with an apocryphal Guangxu mark.
Catalogue notes: The meaning of this four-character phrase is a reference to nobility of character, as a wish for one to have a long-lasting noble reputation.