 Whilst the Cantonese ceramic painters would have worked from images of Sydney Cove and the Aboriginal group provided by the customer commissioning the punchbowls , the border and edge trims were generally left to the choice of the ceramic painters . The traditional floral motif of such Chinese flowers as chrysanthemums , peonies , cherry and plum blossom has been applied to the internal borders of both bowls in a similar pattern . However , the external borders differ considerably . The Library bowl has a more traditional Chinese outer border design in vermilion , rose and gilt , whilst the Museum bowl has a trim of looped circles on a cobalt blue ground , edged with narrow gold bands . There are other differences . The Library bowl has large , gilded monogram initials on the outside and the footring has a single narrow gold band and gilded lower edge . However , the Museum bowl has no visible monogram but the footring does have " View of the Town of Sydney in New South Wales " lettered in black . 
