Josiah Wedgwood and Sons began their relationship with Ravilious following an introduction from a fellow Royal College student, Cecilia Dunbar Kilburn (later Lady Sempill). His first commission was for the coronation mug for King Edward VIII, bearing the date 1938. The mug was withdrawn following the abdication, and the design revised for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and later for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.