Christopher Dresser worked with the Birmingham company of Heath & Middleton to create well-designed mass produced objects in silver and silver plate. The fluidity and geometric shape of this claret jug was inspired by Japanese metalwork and demonstrates Dresser's attention to the simplicity of form and decoration. Dresser would have seen Japanese work during his visits to the Japanese pavilion at the Paris International Exposition in 1867 and during a four month trip to Japan in 1877 as a guest of the Japanese government.