Unlike modern dinner services, the Grand Service has no single style of decoration. The designers incorporated a variety of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental influences. Egyptian motifs are particularly prominent on this tureen, in keeping with the fashions of George IV's day.

Winged Egyptian masks are depicted on the sides of the bowl, and on the corners of the base sit four sphinxes. Similar Egyptian motifs are found elsewhere in the Grand Service, on sauceboats, salts and candelabra. They were likely inspired by new accounts of the region's artistic style, which were published at the turn of the nineteenth century.