The earliest porcelain figures were made for the dessert course of grand dinners and replaced the sugar paste and wax figures made since medieval times for royal feasts. Originally intended as expressions of dynastic power and to celebrate political allegiances, allegorical themes had been introduced into these table settings by the 16th century. By the 18th century many were entirely decorative. Meissen in Germany was the first factory to make porcelain figures for the dessert. It set the sculptural conventions followed by porcelain factories elsewhere.

During the 18th century dessert was the course on which the greatest effort and expense were lavished. The food served and the fine porcelain which accompanied it reflected the wealth and good taste of the host. The increasing availability of porcelain through factories like Meissen, and sugar from the West Indies through the slave trade meant a greater number of the elite class could enjoy decorative desserts and products of slavery, such as sugar.

This richly decorated figure, in the form of a kneeling young black woman holding a shell, was probably used for serving dessert items. The shell would have contained dry sweetmeats. This object aestheticizes the exploitation of black people, this is further emphasised by the fact that she is shown in a vulnerable and subservient position.