Sample Tray
ca. 1770s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Shallow wooden tray (38.6 x 29.4 x 1.6 cm), the front with central brass button handle. The interior is lined with green laid paper (stuck down with adhesive), to which are applied 242 white feldspathic stoneware casts of gems and impressions from gems, each of which is numbered above in ink. The numbers run from 850 to 1099, the sequence of numbering corresponding to that used in the Wedgwood & Bentley catalogues of ornamental productions. The following gems and numbers were omitted from the sequence, though space was allowed for their later inclusion: 856, 968, 1010, 1045, 1082, and the following numbers are included in the sequence, though the gems are now missing: 1054, 1055 and 1086 (the last two numbers being in a later hand). The front top edge of the draw is numbered 129 in ink. Gem number 961 was loose at time of cataloguing and appeared to be of translucent feldspathic stoneware; it is both incised and inscribed in pencil with the number 961. This is one of three such trays, probably from Josiah Wedgwood's personal reference collection, the others being C.112 and C.114-1999.
Object details
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Wooden tray, with brass handle, the interior lined with laid green paper to which are applied feldspathic stoneware casts of gems and impressions of gems, each of which is numbered above in ink. |
| Brief description | Wooden tray, one of three from Josiah Wedgwood's reference collection of numbered white stoneware casts of gems and impressions of gems, Wedgwood and Bentley, Etruria, Staffordshire, probably 1770s |
| Physical description | Shallow wooden tray (38.6 x 29.4 x 1.6 cm), the front with central brass button handle. The interior is lined with green laid paper (stuck down with adhesive), to which are applied 242 white feldspathic stoneware casts of gems and impressions from gems, each of which is numbered above in ink. The numbers run from 850 to 1099, the sequence of numbering corresponding to that used in the Wedgwood & Bentley catalogues of ornamental productions. The following gems and numbers were omitted from the sequence, though space was allowed for their later inclusion: 856, 968, 1010, 1045, 1082, and the following numbers are included in the sequence, though the gems are now missing: 1054, 1055 and 1086 (the last two numbers being in a later hand). The front top edge of the draw is numbered 129 in ink. Gem number 961 was loose at time of cataloguing and appeared to be of translucent feldspathic stoneware; it is both incised and inscribed in pencil with the number 961. This is one of three such trays, probably from Josiah Wedgwood's personal reference collection, the others being C.112 and C.114-1999. |
| Credit line | Given by Mrs Ursula Vaughan Williams |
| Object history | Provenance: by descent through the Wedgwood, Darwin and Vaughan Williams families. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.113-1999 |
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| Record created | January 27, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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