A Female centaur and bacchante

Object Type
The roundel is one of a set of 14 medallions intended for decorating interiors such as halls. In 1771 Wedgwood wrote to his partner suggesting that he show examples of the reliefs to Robert Adam in the hope of provoking 'some new idea of disposing of them'.

Materials & Making
The relief is made in a type of pottery that Wedgwood marketed as 'white terracotta stoneware'. He described it as being 'of great beauty and delicacy, proper for cameos, portraits and bas-reliefs'. A range of ornamental ceramics was made in the new 'terracotta' material, including architectural plaques, cameos, medallions, flower pots, vases and paint boxes.

The body itself is dense and hard. It is similar in appearance to unglazed creamware (an earthenware made by combining white-firing clays and calcined flint), but was probably fired at a higher temperature. It could be painted in enamels and glazed.

Design & Designing
The paintings excavated at Herculaneum were illustrated by Thomas Martyn and John Lettice in The Antiquities of Herculaneum, to which Wedgwood subscribed in 1773. By that date his 'Herculaneum Bass-reliefs' were already in production, their source being the set of plaster reliefs owned by Lord Lansdowne.