The mugs that Eric Ravilious designed for Wedgwood to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II currently, along with all (original) things Ravilious, fetch great prices. The mugs that Dame Laura Knight designed for the planned coronation of Edward VIII are, in comparison, somewhat overlooked. They share a similar strength of design and idiosyncratic qualities that make them both out to be the work of that particular artist. Knight also threw aside lots of conventions in the design that she produced; instead of being surrounded by the more traditional tropes of royalty she sits a circus elephant and depiction of George and the Dragon alongside her portrait of Edward. The elephant presumably drawn from her extensive sketching and painting done backstage at circuses and not meant as a comment on the pomp and circumstance of the occasion.
Of course the coronation of Edward VIII never happened so Knight adapted her design for the coronation of his brother, George VI, with a portrait of him and his wife, Elizabeth. These mugs were made by Burleigh although examples also exist made for Myott and also applied to a different (and plainer) mug with a plain handle and straight sides rather than the dog head mug and slightly tapered sides of the Burleigh version.
The examples that we have are in good condition retaining the vibrancy of the colours.
