Both sugar bowls are designed as large baskets with domed covers, each featuring a figure standing on the right of the irregular base. The figures, dressed in mid-length skirts and turbans, are slightly bent at the waist with arms extended. The bowl on the left is adorned with leafy branches, roots, twigs, and flowers, while the one on the right features only flowers, except for the flowering twig handle, and additional flowers woven into the basket’s interlacing. The primary distinction between the two is that one is painted, while the other is not.

These porcelain objects were produced by the same company, Bow Manufactory, suggesting that they were likely made in bulk and hand-painted as needed. The Bow porcelain factory, which operated from the mid-1740s until its closure in 1776, was one of the first established in London, alongside the Chelsea porcelain factory. Bow targeted the luxury market and was among the earliest to use soft-paste porcelain incorporating bone ash to enhance the strength and whiteness of its pieces. These bowls were likely used to store the finest, purest sugar, making the inclusion of what appears to be an enslaved figure as a decorative element particularly unsettling, as it further commodifies both slavery and its products.