Walking stick knobs and handles had been made in Meissen porcelain since production started in the 1710s. They were also made at a number of other continental European porcelain factories, including Saint-Cloud in France, Capodimonte and Doccia in Italy, and Frankenthal in Germany. They were made as gifts to be exchanged between ladies and gentlemen and were intended to express affection and esteem.

Pug dogs had been introduced into Europe from China in the late seventeenth century. They were popular in German court circles because of their loyalty, trustworthiness and steadiness, and were the favourite breed of Count Bruhl, the most powerful man in Saxony and director of the Meissen porcelain factory. Their fidelity led to their adoption as a symbol for the Freemasons' lodges that sprung up all over Europe after 1717. However, in 1738 Pope Clement XII issued a bull forbidding Catholics from becoming Freemasons, which prompted the Elector Clemens August of Cologne to found the 'Mopsorden', or Order of the Pug, two years later. An expose published in Amsterdam in 1745 confirmed the order as an organization for Roman Catholics who had been forbidden Freemasonry by the Papal bull. Unlike Masonic lodges it admitted women. Its popularity, and the dog's natural charm, prompted manufacturers of luxury goods to make a wealth of pug-themed trinkets in the 1740s.