Wedgwood revives the "London" shape teacup, a standard for British ceramists fifty or so years earlier.  Using their red stoneware body, they increase the scale adding boldness to the profile. A decision to eliminate all surface ornament reflects a turn to increased simplicity in later Victorian aesthetics.

The broader shape and more horizontal profile of the cup indicates that that their intended use was for tea, rather than coffee.

Wedgwood's red stoneware body, Ross Antico enjoyed great popularity in the first two or  three decades of the nineteeth century, then seems to have faded away.  Around the 1860's a number of manufacturers started showing red body wares -- which encouraged Wedgwood to re-introduce their own Rosso Antico body as well as the heavier red stoneware version shown here.