"The story of 'The Widow's Cruse' is found in the fourth chapter of 'The Second Book of the Kings' where the reader is told 'a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets' whose two sons were about to be 'taken in execution' by a relentless creditor and sold as bondsmen, appeals for help to the prophet Elisha, who asks her what she has in her house; her reply is 'nothing, save a pot of oil.'"  (Art Journal 1877)

The height of the largest figure is three feet, and it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1869.