Frog Service
Plate
1773 (made)
1773 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
The dish was for serving meat dishes or vegetables. It was originally meant to have a domed oval cover to protect the food and keep it warm.
Ownershp & Use
The 'Frog Service' was a 50-person set intended for dinner and dessert. Catherine the Great bought it for her Gothic summer palace built in a frog marsh some miles outside St Petersburg -- hence the inclusion of the frog motif. The service was painted with a total of 1222 views of British landscapes, antiquities and gardens. It cost £2,290 and was intended for occasional use, not for display alone. In the event this particular dish was not sent to Russia, probably because it was replaced by one with a more interesting view.
Subject Depicted
Wedgwood's partner Thomas Bentley selected the views to go onto the service. This one shows the gardens at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which were laid out by Sir Francis Dashwood in 1739-1752. The painter copied the view from an engraving by William Woollett (1735-1785).
The dish was for serving meat dishes or vegetables. It was originally meant to have a domed oval cover to protect the food and keep it warm.
Ownershp & Use
The 'Frog Service' was a 50-person set intended for dinner and dessert. Catherine the Great bought it for her Gothic summer palace built in a frog marsh some miles outside St Petersburg -- hence the inclusion of the frog motif. The service was painted with a total of 1222 views of British landscapes, antiquities and gardens. It cost £2,290 and was intended for occasional use, not for display alone. In the event this particular dish was not sent to Russia, probably because it was replaced by one with a more interesting view.
Subject Depicted
Wedgwood's partner Thomas Bentley selected the views to go onto the service. This one shows the gardens at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which were laid out by Sir Francis Dashwood in 1739-1752. The painter copied the view from an engraving by William Woollett (1735-1785).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Frog Service (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Creamware (Queen's Ware), painted in enamels |
| Brief description | Large oval, cream coloured earthenware plate painted with a view of the lake at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. English, 1773-1774. Part of the 'Frog Service' made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great of Russia |
| Physical description | Dish, cream coloured earthenware, painted in purplish and brownish black and green, with a view of West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. It is oval with a wavy edge. In the centre there is a scene of a lake with a boat and waterfowl, a park and trees in the background, painted in monochrome brown. The scene is surrounded by a painted gadroon border. Around the rim runs a painted oak stem with leaves and acorns. At the top ther is a shield with a frog painted in geen. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Alfred Williams Hearn Bequest |
| Object history | Part of the 'Frog Service' made for the Empress Catherine II of Russia's palace of La Grenouillière. This piece appears to have been omitted from the service at a late stage, as it is the only piece to be ommitted and yet appear in Bentley's catalogue of the service. Made at Josiah Wedgwood's factory at Etruria, Staffordshire and painted at his decorating studio in Chelsea, London Historical significance: The view is based upon the right hand side of 'A View of the Lake, etc. taken from the Center Walk in the Garden of Sir Francis Dashwood Bat. in the County of Bucks', engraved by William Woollett after a painting by William Hannan. |
| Production | C.96-1932 is from the same service. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type The dish was for serving meat dishes or vegetables. It was originally meant to have a domed oval cover to protect the food and keep it warm. Ownershp & Use The 'Frog Service' was a 50-person set intended for dinner and dessert. Catherine the Great bought it for her Gothic summer palace built in a frog marsh some miles outside St Petersburg -- hence the inclusion of the frog motif. The service was painted with a total of 1222 views of British landscapes, antiquities and gardens. It cost £2,290 and was intended for occasional use, not for display alone. In the event this particular dish was not sent to Russia, probably because it was replaced by one with a more interesting view. Subject Depicted Wedgwood's partner Thomas Bentley selected the views to go onto the service. This one shows the gardens at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which were laid out by Sir Francis Dashwood in 1739-1752. The painter copied the view from an engraving by William Woollett (1735-1785). |
| Associated object | C.96-1932 (Object) |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.74-1931 |
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| Record created | June 23, 1998 |
| Record URL |
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