This pear-shaped jug is recorded in four sizes and was intended for use and display on the dressing-table. Silver-gilt mounts, such as those seen here, cost between 24 to 54 livres. For a discussion of this form and an illustration of a similar Sèvres pink-ground jug and basin, see R. Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. II, pp. 692-695, no. C450-I.

Basins of the same form as the present example (jatte 'ovale' 1ère grandeur) are usually paired with open ewers. Under short wave UV light and X-ray, the porcelain body of the basin appears to be 18th century soft paste Sèvres, but chromium appears in the green decoration, indicating that the painting must date post 1802.

Louis-Denis Armand l'âiné is recorded as a painter of birds, animals, landscapes and figures at the factory from 1745 to 1788.