Cream-coloured earthenware incorporating ground flints and white clay from Devon or Dorset, and coated with liquid lead glaze was being made in Staffordshire by the early 1740s. During the 1750s and 1760s much of it was press-moulded or slip-cast with borders or motifs in relief; applied sprigs of flowers and foliage were also popular. This lightly fluted tureen has borders of wickerwork with scrolled panels at intervals. Borders of this kind were introduced on Meissen porcelain dinner services during the 1730s and early 1740s. Other Continental and English porcelain factories imitated them, and pottery manufacturers followed, bringing this fashion to the tables of the middle classes.

Sponging or painting with metallic oxides was the most common decoration on early creamwares. The oxides were applied to the once-fired body before glazing and during the second firing melted into the glaze, producing streaked, mottled or patched coloration, described as ‘Tortoiseshell’. On this tureen, cobalt, copper and manganese oxides were used, but applied sparingly, so that the yellowish-cream of the body remains visible on the exterior. Inside the colours are darker and run down the sides in streaks to a pool of greenstained glaze in the centre.