Ewer
1770-75 (made), 1770-75 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This vase is purely decorative and was probably intended for display in a private library or other domestic interior. It was made at a time when vases were enormously popular. Wedgwood exploited and promoted this fashion, boasting of his intention of becoming 'Vase Maker General to the Universe' in 1769. For Wedgwood, the vase form itself had elevated associations. In 1771 he said: 'it is the forms more than the colours of many of the Vases which has raised, & unvulgariz'd them - Make exactly the same pebbles [pottery with mottled glazes like this one] into Tea ware & they are let down to the class of common Pott ware again, many degrees below Queens Ware'.
Design & Designing
Wedgwood based the shape of this vase on a design in the Livre de Vases, published 1667, by Jacques Stella (born Lyon, France, in 1596, died in Paris in 1657). The glaze imitates the surface of porphyry or another similar hardstone. In 1770 Wedgwood wrote of his intention to imitate ancient porphyry vases. He asked his business partner to borrow one owned by Lord Besborough so that he could cast a mould from it.
This vase is purely decorative and was probably intended for display in a private library or other domestic interior. It was made at a time when vases were enormously popular. Wedgwood exploited and promoted this fashion, boasting of his intention of becoming 'Vase Maker General to the Universe' in 1769. For Wedgwood, the vase form itself had elevated associations. In 1771 he said: 'it is the forms more than the colours of many of the Vases which has raised, & unvulgariz'd them - Make exactly the same pebbles [pottery with mottled glazes like this one] into Tea ware & they are let down to the class of common Pott ware again, many degrees below Queens Ware'.
Design & Designing
Wedgwood based the shape of this vase on a design in the Livre de Vases, published 1667, by Jacques Stella (born Lyon, France, in 1596, died in Paris in 1657). The glaze imitates the surface of porphyry or another similar hardstone. In 1770 Wedgwood wrote of his intention to imitate ancient porphyry vases. He asked his business partner to borrow one owned by Lord Besborough so that he could cast a mould from it.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | This fine, cream-coloured earthenware was called Queen's Ware by Wedgwood. |
| Brief description | Ewer of earthenware with a blue-grey speckled 'porphyry' glaze, mask reliefs and a snake handle, on a black basalt plinth, by Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire, ca. 1770 |
| Physical description | Ovoid ewer of earthenware with a snake handle decorated with a blue-grey speckled 'porphyry' glaze and gilded details, a grotesque satyr mask applied below the spout, the lower handle terminal with another different mask, set on a black basalt stoneware plinth. A rod and bolt hold the ewer and plinth together. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY ETRURIA' (mark impressed in relief on a circular band to underside of plinth) |
| Gallery label | CREAMWARE EWER
About 1770-1775
Creamware with ‘porphyry’ glaze and traces of original gilding
Based on a design in the Livre de Vases, published 1667, by Jacques Stella (born Lyon, France, in 1596, died in Paris in 1657)
Made at Josiah Wedgwood’s factory, Etruria, Staffordshire
Marked ‘WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY: ETRURIA’ in applied seal
LOAN:CERANON.3-2012 |
| Credit line | Private Collection |
| Object history | The source for this vase is an etching by Francoise Bouzonnet Stella, etching pl. 11 from Livre de Vases, 1667, after Jacques Stella, published by Timothy Clifford. Clifford, Timothy. Some English Ceramic Vases and their Sources, Part 1. English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 10, part 3, 1978, pp 159-173 plate 73 (c). Another version of the same model in black basalt in the City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, is illustrated (d). |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type This vase is purely decorative and was probably intended for display in a private library or other domestic interior. It was made at a time when vases were enormously popular. Wedgwood exploited and promoted this fashion, boasting of his intention of becoming 'Vase Maker General to the Universe' in 1769. For Wedgwood, the vase form itself had elevated associations. In 1771 he said: 'it is the forms more than the colours of many of the Vases which has raised, & unvulgariz'd them - Make exactly the same pebbles [pottery with mottled glazes like this one] into Tea ware & they are let down to the class of common Pott ware again, many degrees below Queens Ware'. Design & Designing Wedgwood based the shape of this vase on a design in the Livre de Vases, published 1667, by Jacques Stella (born Lyon, France, in 1596, died in Paris in 1657). The glaze imitates the surface of porphyry or another similar hardstone. In 1770 Wedgwood wrote of his intention to imitate ancient porphyry vases. He asked his business partner to borrow one owned by Lord Besborough so that he could cast a mould from it. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:CERANON.3-2012 |
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| Record created | September 12, 2012 |
| Record URL |
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