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 figurine is probably modelled on a print of the great Regency clown Joseph Grimaldi (1779-1837) who made his name in the pantomime Mother Goose at Covent Garden Theatre in 1806. Grimaldi was an excellent comic singer, a great acrobat and a truly inventive performer. Countless other clowns, wearing similar makeup and costume followed him, working in both the circus and the theatre, but it was Grimaldi's name that became legendary, and the nickname 'Joey' (meaning a clown) developed in his honour.