Parrots are rarely depicted on Chinese snuff bottles, although they do appear in other forms of Chinese art - notably the Kangxi period glazed biscuit figures of parrots made in large numbers for the export market. A very similar image of a perched, chained parrot enamelled in famille-rose on export porcelain vases datable to circa 1740-45 is believed to have been copied directly from a European drawing or engraving, possibly by Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759). Although it seems unlikely the present design derives from the same source it is quite possible it too derives from a European engraving.

A red overlay bottle with a similar subject is illustrated by Viviane Jutheau, Guide du Collectionneur de Tabatieres Chinoises, Paris, 1980, p. 61, nos. 2 and 3. Another red overlay bottle which depicts a parrot on a similar perch as part of its overall design is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Helen White, Snuff Bottles from China, London, 1992, p. 202 and pl. 93, no. 2.