Family crests and shields were the most impressive way to increase the status of an item in 18th-century America. Not only did it promise uniqueness, but quite blatantly hinted at an association with English nobility and gentry.

Chinese porcelain teabowls had been in use in England since the 17th century, and Worcester Royal Porcelain Company introduced the shape from its inception in 1862.

The influence of neoclassicism on European and American architecture and decorative arts was quite popular between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries.