Wedgwood Egyptian club jug of black basalt with iron red black and white enamel decoration of a sphinx on either side of a bird in flight with pinched lip and spout and loop handle

Egyptian Club Jug

Wedgwood

About 1854

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Round black and white jasper medallion with profile portrait of HRH The Prince of Wales 1894 1972 was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December the same year Edward was the eldest son of George V and Mary of Teck He was named Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday nine weeks after his father succeeded as king As a young man he served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father Edward became king on his fathers death in early 1936 However he showed impatience with court protocol and caused concern among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions Only months into his reign he caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to Wallis Simpson an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage arguing that a divorced woman with two living ex husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort Additionally such a marriage would have conflicted with Edwards status as the titular head of the Church of England which at the time disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive Edward knew that the British government led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead which could have forced a general election and would ruin his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch When it became apparent that he could not marry Wallis and remain on the throne Edward abdicated He was succeeded by his younger brother George VI With a reign of 326 days Edward is one of the shortest reigning monarchs in British history After his abdication he was created Duke of Windsor He married Wallis in France on 3 June 1937 after her second divorce became final Later that year the couple toured Germany During the Second World War he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France but after private accusations that he held Nazi sympathies he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas After the war Edward spent the rest of his life in retirement in France
Small flat oval intaglio with the scene of the giant Tityos son of Zeus lying stretched out on and bound to a rock in Tartarus trying to fight off a vulture who has returned to feed on his liver below the scene is an illegible Greek inscription
Half figure seated right the head front
Head in profile right