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

ca. 1785 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
The vase is a copy of an ancient south Italian krater, a pottery vessel for mixing wine and water. It was purely ornamental and may have been made for display in Wedgwood's showrooms.

Materials & Making
The bowl and foot of the vase were thrown separately on a potter's wheel and the handles were moulded. The parts were 'luted' (joined together with wet clay) before firing. The bowl is about as large as it is possible to throw in a single section, as the depth is equal to the length of a person's arm. It is the largest encaustic painted vase by Wedgwood.

Design & Designing
The krater is a copy of a 4th-century BC Apulian (south Italian) vase from the collection of Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803). Wedgwood copied the decoration from the published catalogue of Hamilton's collection, not from the original vase. He repeated the engraver's mistake in running the wave pattern under the rim from left to right.

People
The vase was formerly in the collection of the glassmaker Apsley Pellat (1791-1863), who bought it at the sale of Wegwood's warehouse in St James's, London, in 1829.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Black basalt with 'encaustic' painting
Brief description
Volute Krater, Black Basalt copied from a 4th Century BC Apulian vase, Wedgwood, about 1785.
Physical description
Vase of black basalt, with encaustic painting in red, brown, white and blue. Made in imitation of a south Italian krater. The handles terminate above in medallions moulded with Gorgon's masks and below in two loops with swans' heads. On either side of the neck is a female head rising from a flower and surrounded by floral scrolls. Beneath the handles are elaborate palmettes and under the figure subjects is a band of meander ornament.
Dimensions
  • Height: 87.31cm
  • Width: 55.5cm
Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 15/07/1999 by KN
Marks and inscriptions
'WEDGWOOD' and 'Z' (Impressed)
Credit line
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
Object history
Copied from a 4th Century BC Apulian vase in the collection of Sir William Hamilton.Considerably larger than the original Greek volute krater from which it is copied, this huge basalt vase of about 1785, with Wedgwood's patented encaustic painting, was later owned by the London retailer and glassmaker, Apsley Pellatt.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
The vase is a copy of an ancient south Italian krater, a pottery vessel for mixing wine and water. It was purely ornamental and may have been made for display in Wedgwood's showrooms.

Materials & Making
The bowl and foot of the vase were thrown separately on a potter's wheel and the handles were moulded. The parts were 'luted' (joined together with wet clay) before firing. The bowl is about as large as it is possible to throw in a single section, as the depth is equal to the length of a person's arm. It is the largest encaustic painted vase by Wedgwood.

Design & Designing
The krater is a copy of a 4th-century BC Apulian (south Italian) vase from the collection of Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803). Wedgwood copied the decoration from the published catalogue of Hamilton's collection, not from the original vase. He repeated the engraver's mistake in running the wave pattern under the rim from left to right.

People
The vase was formerly in the collection of the glassmaker Apsley Pellat (1791-1863), who bought it at the sale of Wegwood's warehouse in St James's, London, in 1829.
Bibliographic references
  • Hildyard, Robin. European Ceramics. London : V&A Publications, 1999. 144 p., ill. ISBN 185177260X
  • Clifford, Sir Timothy, ‘Some English Ceramic Vases and their Sources, Part 2’ in Walford, Tom and Hilary Young British Ceramic Design, 1600-2002: Papers presented at the colloquium celebrating the 75th anniversary of the English Ceramic Circle, 1927-2002. 2003, p. 82, fig. 10
  • The Age of Neo-Classicism, London : Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972 No.1544
  • Young, Hilary (ed.). The Genius of Wedgwood. London : Victoria & Albert Museum, 1995 C6
Collection
Accession number
2419-1901

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Record createdDecember 2, 2002
Record URL
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