Due to the naturalistic sculpting of this charming early Chelsea porcelain model of an owl, it is highly possible that it was modelled from life. J.V.G. Mallet discusses Nicholas Sprimont's involvement in the modelling of some early Chelsea models of animals, see J.G.V. Mallet, ‘Hogarth’s pug in porcelain’, Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin, Vol. III, no. 2, London, April 1967, pp. 45-54.

Paul Crane, in his paper on George Edwards, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds (first published in 1743), suggests that the Chelsea model may have been inspired by Edwards's 'Great horned Owl', Plate 60, see 'Nature, Porcelain and Enlightenment: George Edwards and the Chelsea porcelain birds', English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Vol. 28, 2017, pp. 47-48, fig. 40 & fig. 41 for a Chelsea porcelain example. Similar models of owls can be found in creamware, saltglaze stoneware and in Bow porcelain.

Only a few early Chelsea porcelain models of owls of this type are recorded: see the example in the Toronto Treasures Exhibitions, April 1993, subsequently sold Spetchley Park, Chorley's, Gloucestershire, 23 March 2021, lot 860. An example was exhibited in Early English White Sculptural Porcelain from the Paul and Bunny Davies Collection, E & H Manners, London, November 2020, cat. no. 1 and another was sold Bonhams, London, 2 May 2018, lot 273.