A high-shouldered, narrow-necked vessel is adorned with a repeating incised  pattern of stylized foliage and blossoms. The surface decoration enhances the shape without interrupting the strong, simple profile of the vase. A blue ground color complements the more earthy tones of green and brown with key elements in a slightly more matte off-white glaze. The structure of the pattern is defined by strategically placed rows of beading.

Simmance, who worked for Doulton for fifty-five years was one of the pottery's most prolific and versatile decorators. She supervised a staff of assistants who executed her designs, accounting for the monogram of Emma Martin that accompanies that of Simmance.

In 1815 John Doulton entered into a partnership to produce stoneware which eventually in 1854 became Doulton & Co. The product was functional--bottles and pipes--with decoration a very secondary concern. John's son Henry, however, entered into a relationship with the Lambeth School of Art in the early 1870's to establish a studio to produce unique artist-decorated pieces, one of the earliest flowerings of the art pottery movement. Doulton expanded into table wares and porcelain after acquiring the Staffordshire pottery, Pinder Bourne, and in 1901 received the warrant to become Royal Doulton. Art production in Lambeth reached a peak in the 1890's and continued well into the twentieth century, though with a slow decline in quantities produced and decorators employed.

Generally the Lambeth studio emphasized surface decoration, reflecting contemporary interest in flat patterns. Typically designs are incised. Colored glazes complement the pattern but were seldom allowed to completely obscure the natural tones of the stoneware body.