Earthenware flatbacks and figurines for mantelpiece decoration were first produced in Staffordshire in the late 1830s. The earliest datable figures appear to be of Queen Victoria. Production of earthenware figures continued throughout Victoria's lifetime, but although they were still made after her death in 1901, few appear to have been produced after 1905. During their heyday, however, they were produced in vast numbers, usually modelled after prints. They represented a wide variety of subjects but those of actors and actresses were especially popular.

This identity of this figurine is not known but it would have been modelled on an engraving of a contemporary clown. His costume and make-up are typically that of a 19th-century clown, which did not change much throughout the century. It may be Joseph Grimaldi (1779-1837), the great clown who made his name in pantomime in the theatre in the early part of the century, but countless other clowns followed him, working in both the circus and the theatre and wearing similar costume and makeup.