The surface of this gourd shape Doulton Lambeth vase is ornamented with an intricate incised design picked out in grey tones and ochre with touches of dark blue. The body features a stylized foliage motif that is repeated in alternating gray and ochre glaze against a slightly darker gray ground. The contrasting colors reveal the structure of the repeating pattern and highlight the points at which the elements intertwine.

The piece seems to have been made in two pieces: the main double gourd shape vessel and the foot.  The Art Union notation, Emily E. Stormer's signature and assistant monograms are found inside the foot which was subsequently attached. An additional monogram on the foot, MMA, presumably that of an assistant, has not been identified. 

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.

The Art Union of London was a subscription membership organization founded in 1837, one of several such in Britain and on the continent, In exchange for their dues members received one art object as a premium each year along with the chance to win one of several more significant prizes in a lottery. The purpose was to increase the public's appreciation of art and design as well as to encourage and support the efforts of art producers. The organization continued until 1912.