The Elers brothers, the makers of the teapot, were silversmiths from the Netherlands, and it was probably their lack of experience in throwing, combined with their knowledge of casting metals, that led them to invent slip-casting. This involved pouring liquid clay into plaster moulds and allowing the water to evaporate, leaving a very thin casting in clay. As later Staffordshire potters were to discover, slip-casting allowed repetition of complex asymmetrical or non-circular shapes. Curiously, this potential was never fully exploited by the Elerses themselves, who frequently cast shapes that could have easily been thrown on a wheel.

Most Elers pieces are of slip-cast red stoneware inspired by Chinese Yixing examples, finished on a lathe and with stamped decoration. This teapot is a very rare example in salt-glazed stoneware, made before their move to Staffordshire, in contravention of the patent held by the London potter John Dwight. It is also one of the earliest examples of English pottery with enamelled decoration, which was probably added by a Dutch craftsman. The Elers brothers specialized in making small beer mugs and wares for the new hot drinks, tea, coffee and chocolate, all three of which were expensive luxury imports during the seventeenth century.