Clarice Cliff - Frank Brangwyn - A.J Wilkinson - A framed circular charger hand painted after the original from the British Empire Panel with African figures sat amidst flowers and foliage with animals and birds in the trees and on branches, the reverse with the hand painted mark 'The Brangwyn panels designed for the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords 1925, First Exhibited at Olympia 1933. Painted by Clarice Cliff from one of the panels.. A.J Wilkinson, Royal Staffordshire Pottery Burslem, Staffordshire', numbered 17 and signed Frank Brangwyn, diameter 32.5cm In 1926, Frank Brangwyn was commissioned by Lord Iveagh to paint a pair of large canvases to be displayed in the Royal Gallery at the House of Lords, Westminster. The paintings were to commemorate peers and their family members who had been killed in the First World War. Accordingly, Brangwyn painted two battle scenes which included a scene of life-size troops advancing into battle beside a British tank. When the paintings were unveiled in 1928, the Lords rejected the panels considering them too grim and disturbing. They recommissioned Brangwyn to produce a series of panels that would celebrate the beauty of the British Empire and the Dominions. Over the next five years, Brangwyn completed sixteen panels (that covered 3000sq ft) which would be known as the British Empire Panels. Five of the panels were displayed in the Royal Gallery for approval by the Lords, but were again refused on the ground of being 'too colourful and lively'. In 1934, the sixteen panels were purchased by Swansea Council and are now housed in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.

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