In 1871 Charles Haviland, manufacturer at Limoges, appointed Félix Bracquemond as the director of the newly formed Auteuil Atelier in Paris to create new, experimental products for Haviland and Company tableware. Among these products were vases and objects in barbotine-painted terracotta, the recently perfected method of impasto painting on earthenware with layers of colored liquid slips that were then covered in a clear glaze and fired.

The painted decorations included motifs and scenes in classical, impressionistic, and Japanizing styles. Inspired by the Japanese lacquerware then being shown and sold in Paris, Charles Midoux here used the barbotine technique to imitate the layered appearance of lacquer, using a black ground overpainted with gold and silver birds and vegetation. Like Bracquemond and other artists, Midoux appropriated these motifs from Japanese print sources; the rectangular shape of the container is also derived from Japanese models.