Vase thumbnail 1
Vase thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 118, The Wolfson Gallery

Vase

1780-1790 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
A purely decorative vase, one that would have been displayed in a domestic interior, possibly on a mantelpiece, where it might have been set out with others.

Design & Designing
Wedgwood's move into vase production coincided with the fashionable world taking up the vase as a symbol of the new 'antique' style. The demand for 'antique' vases was so great that, in addition to copying surviving Classical antiquities, manufacturers copied designs from prints of the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of these prints were highly fanciful inventions, which were not seriously intended to be models for production. Wedgwood adapted the design here from a vase print by Friedrich Kirschner (1748-1789), a German miniature painter.

Materials & Making
The vase is made of Black Basalt, one of several types of pottery that Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) introduced or refined. The black colour came from 'Carr', an oxide of iron suspended in water that had flowed through coal seams and mines. Although the cover is the correct shape for the vase, its decorative details are different, suggesting it was a later replacement. It is painted with a pigment containing silver, which has oxidised and turned black. This technique was used on Wedgwood's Basalt in the 1790s.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Vase
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Black Basalt
Brief description
Black basalt vase, made at Josiah Wedgwood's factory, Etruria, Staffordshire, 1780 - 1790
Dimensions
  • Height: 22.86cm
  • Width: 13.5cm
Gallery label
Vase made at the factory of Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire, 1780-1800 Mark: 'WEDGWOOD', impressed Black Basalt with engine-turned decoration 131-1878 Bequeathed by Mr A. S. Hobson The design here is taken from a print by Friederich Kirschner (1748-1789). The cover is not original to the vase.(23/05/2008)
Credit line
Bequeathed by A. S. Hobson
Object history
Made at Josiah Wedgwood's factory, Etruria, Staffordshire
Summary
Object Type
A purely decorative vase, one that would have been displayed in a domestic interior, possibly on a mantelpiece, where it might have been set out with others.

Design & Designing
Wedgwood's move into vase production coincided with the fashionable world taking up the vase as a symbol of the new 'antique' style. The demand for 'antique' vases was so great that, in addition to copying surviving Classical antiquities, manufacturers copied designs from prints of the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of these prints were highly fanciful inventions, which were not seriously intended to be models for production. Wedgwood adapted the design here from a vase print by Friedrich Kirschner (1748-1789), a German miniature painter.

Materials & Making
The vase is made of Black Basalt, one of several types of pottery that Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) introduced or refined. The black colour came from 'Carr', an oxide of iron suspended in water that had flowed through coal seams and mines. Although the cover is the correct shape for the vase, its decorative details are different, suggesting it was a later replacement. It is painted with a pigment containing silver, which has oxidised and turned black. This technique was used on Wedgwood's Basalt in the 1790s.
Collection
Accession number
131&A-1878

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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