A delightfully diminutive version of Wedgwood's rope-handled "Upright" shape jug is adorned with an unusual and snappy sprig -- a lion, both modern and classical in feeling, in a columned architectural structure. The inscription "Wembley 1924" reveals the jug's significance as a souvenir of the British Empire Exhibition. Appropriately for a celebration of achievement in industry and the arts, Wedgwood includes a profile portrait of founder Josiah I on the reverse side. The grapevine or "fruiting" border, standard for this jug shape, is the only other ornament.

The 1924 British Empire Exhibition was a gigantic exposition designed to encourage unity and trade among the fifty-eight nations that were then components of the British Empire. Those who saw the terrific film The King's Speech will recall the painful opening scene in  which Prince Albert, later George VI stammers through a public address. That scene was, in fact, a recreation of the prince's appearance at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition.