The architect and buildings contractor Louis-François de Bey had owned an earthenware (faïence) factory at Sceaux from 1739. However in 1748 he established a new porcelain and faïence factory there under the aegis of the duchesse de Maine, Louise-Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé, wife of Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc de Maine and legitimised son of Louis XIV and Mme. de Montespan. This royal couple had been forced to retire from court and repair to their chateau at Sceaux after having been implicated in a plot against the Regent during the minority of Louis XV. Following the example of the Prince de Condé at Chantilly and the duc de Villeroy at Mennecy, they gave their protection to their local porcelain manufactory under control of de Bey. The potter Jaccques Chapelle was de Bey's main collaborator at Sceaux. He had learnt his trade as a faïencier in the Paris region and then spent a significant period at the Strasbourg porcelain and faïence factory. At Sceaux he was able to attract experienced painters, turners, mould makers, modellers and sculptors from many different factories and thus played an important part in the factory's development. In 1754 the painter Joseph Jullien arrived. He was to become head of the painters' workshop and finally joint Director in 1763 together with the sculptor Symphorien Jacques.

In the mid-18th century the production of French porcelain manufactories was restricted by the exclusive monopoly or privilège granted to the royal Vincennes (later Sèvres) porcelain factory by King Louis XV in 1745. Sceaux had initially intended to make soft-paste porcelain in Meissen style similar to Vincennes, but were forced instead to continue making faïence and porcelain often with more restrained decoration to avoid infringing the ban on competing with Vincennes. By the 1760s the law dictating the kinds of things factories were allowed to make was no longer so strictly enforced and the decoration at Sceaux became more varied, imitating the fashions set by Sèvres.

This tureen is faïence. Large covered serving dishes of this type were used for serving meaty stews or soups and would have provided a focus on the dining table flanked by other dishes of vegetables and salads. This tureen with its curvaceous profile and naturalistic decoration and modelling, embodies the rococo style, which continued to be the major stylistic influence in faïence production well into the final quarter of the 18th century. Rococo pottery and porcelain tureens frequently feature handles, legs and finials naturalistically moulded and painted as fruit, vegetables, game, or fish. On soup tureens these often indicate the nature of the foodstuffs they were intended to serve. Here, the cover of the tureen has handles formed as artichokes and lemons and is decorated with a bunch of grapes and a gherkin.