Stars of the 19th century were often celebrated in paintings, prints and drawings, and in ceramic figurines. From the mid 1830s until the early 1900s several Staffordshire factories specialised in moulded earthenware portrait figurines which were decorated by hand and sold cheaply. This represents the American sisters Charlotte and Susan Cushman as Romeo and Juliet in Juliet's chamber, Act 111, scene v. The pose was copied from a contemporary engraving published in Tallis's Shakespeare Gallery, 1852-1853, after an 1845 painting by Margaret Gillies.

The Cushman sisters came to England in 1844 and appeared at the Haymarket Theatre as Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which opened on 30 December, and subsequently on tour in the provinces. Charlotte Cushman specialised in playing male parts or 'breeches roles' and played over forty such parts during her career but owed her greatest fame to her Romeo. Critics in the United States and Britain praised her passionate performances, one writing that 'as a lover, the ardor of her devotion exceeded that of any male actor I have ever seen in the part.' When Susan retired, Charlotte coached the novelist Matilda Hays as her Juliet. Offstage, the couple lived together.

At least seven earthenware portrait figurines are known to have been copied from engravings in Tallis's Shakespeare Gallery, and these have become known as Tallis figures. They were made in many sizes and are thought to have been made by the Burslem potters Thomas Parr, who was working from 1852 until 1870, John Parr, who worked from 1870 to 1879, or the Kent & Parr firm, who worked from 1880 until 1894. These manufacturers passed the moulds to each other and the figures were produced throughout the Victorian period.