The box is inscribed 'C.H.Z. 1771', for 'Churfürstliche Hof Zöhrgaden 1771', indicating that it was at that date held in the confectionery storeroom of items used in the service of the dessert at the Bavarian Electoral Court. It may have been used for sugar, or perhaps for stewed fruit. A number of other shell boxes of this type survive with the inscription and date 1771, suggesting that they were disposed along the length of dessert table at grand dinners held at the court.

The shape is precisely copied from a Meissen porcelain covered box, modelled by Eberlein in November 1746 and made for Count Brühl's court confectionery (when it was described as 'Confect-Schaale mit Deckel in Gestalt einer Perl-Muschel zur Gräfl. Brühlschen Conditorey gefertiget': information kindly communicated by Dr Alfred Ziffer).

The Nymphenburg manufactory on the outskirts of Munich was founded as an Electoral Porcelain Factory by the Elector Max III Joseph of Bavaria in 1747. Commercial production of porcelain was achieved in 1754 with the help of Joseph Ringler, an 'arcanist' (workman with knowledge of porcelain recipes, firing and manufacturing processes) who had gained what had originally been Meissen's industrial secrets at the Vienna Porcelain Factory. Nymphenburg is best known for the elegantly contorted rococo figures and sculptural pieces created by Franz Anton Bustelli between November 1754, when he was appointed the factory's master modeller, and April 1763, when he died.