These sugar decanters originate from Heath House, a residence in Staffordshire commissioned by John Burton Philips (1785–1847) in 1836. His wife, Joanna Freeman Cure (1795–1858), was the sister of Capel Cure II (1797–1878), one of the trustees of John Cope Freeman, who received compensation for the Belvidere Estate.

Initially crafted in the early eighteenth century, these decanters were designed as transitional containers for filtering wine sediments, while also serving a decorative purpose. However, they later became known as sugar decanters due to their distinctive shape. Before the widespread availability of granulated sugar and sugar cubes, refined sugar was typically molded into a sugar loaf—a tall cone with a rounded top. This product resulted from refining dark molasses, a raw sugar, into white sugar, a process primarily undertaken in the Caribbean and Brazil, regions intricately linked to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In Rio de Janeiro, the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain derives its name from this conical shape, reflecting how societies deeply involved in the slave trade frequently referenced sugar in various contexts.