An elongated, gently lobed scallop shell shape is just large enough to hold a small portion of pickles or relish to compliment an eighteenth-century dinner or tea. The interior features an underglaze blue painted decoration, indicating a date earlier than Worcester's blue printed wares. Casual brushstrokes depict a song bird perched between two large peony blossoms. Above a butterfly hovers close to a flowering spray.

The backside reveals a surprisingly complex pattern of soft fluting and a painted workman's mark, which allows attribution of the piece to Worcester, the dish being a bit too early for a factory mark.

Pickle dishes were an important product for early English porcelain makers. Spicy condiments were in demand given the dodgy nature of eighteenth-century fare. Porcelain versions represented an improved version, with surfaces impervious to the acidic contents. The scallop shape recalls the actual shells used for the purpose before china was available.

John Sandon in The Dictionary of Worcester Porcelain (p. 259) notes that the so-called "Two Peony Rock Bird" pattern was a standard decoration for pickle dishes--and used only on pickle dishes--by 1754.