One unusual set of such vessels is the subject of Harvard Art Museums’ exhibition “Adorning the Inner Court,” on display through August 13. For his fiftieth reunion, Ernest B. Dane, A.B. 1892, and his wife, Helen Pratt Dane, donated a ceramic and jade collection to the museum, including 60 pieces of “Numbered Jun” ware: various lobed and rectangular pots (with holes to drain water) and footed basins, mostly. All are numbered (1 for largest, 10 for smallest), and from inscriptions on the bottom, imperial collection catalogs, and scenes in a few paintings, they appear to have been used for growing bulbs and small plants in the Forbidden City. Dworsky associate curator of Chinese art Melissa Moy, who began studying the pieces (about half of which are exhibited) for her master’s thesis, notes that some of the inscriptions tie to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and other rooms in the palace.