George Tinworth (1843–1913) took lessons in modelling at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal Academy before joining Henry Doulton's Lambeth Pottery in 1866. During his first few years there he was responsible for the introduction of decorative salt-glazed stoneware. Appreciation of Tinworth's work at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 led to Doulton's engagement of other decorators, beginning with Hannah and Arthur Barlow in 1871. Their success and the long-lived popularity of ‘Doulton Lambeth Ware’ owed much to the firm's Art Director, Wilton P. Rix, who developed new bodies, pigments, coloured slips and glazes suitable for firing at the high temperatures required for stoneware.

Tinworth was a modeller and decorator, rather than a potter. Vessels were thrown to his instructions, and he added decoration, working extremely swiftly and often for hours on end in bursts of enthusiasm. The incised scrolling foliage, applied flower heads and beading on this flagon are typical of his style in the early 1870s. The silver cover, with London hallmarks for 1874–5, bears the crests of Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Leigh, Cheshire, who was married in 1874 to Lady Elizabeth Mary, eldest daughter of the third Earl of Bantry.

Tinworth decorated thousands of pots during his long career at Doulton's, but this work was really an offshoot of his activity as a sculptor. He was better known for his unconventional terracotta and stoneware reliefs of religious subjects, some of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy.