WEDGWOOD
The mention of the name Wedgwood naturally suggests to the general
reader those blue-and-white pieces which made famous England’s greatest
potter--Josiah Wedgwood. We picture to ourselves the beautiful vases,
flower-holders, jardinières, tea-pots, cups and saucers, cream-ewers,
and the like, and are not aware, perhaps, that many other ornamental
uses were served by jasper ware (as Wedgwood called this ceramic
product), not only in the blue-and-white, but in yellow-and-white,
green-and-white, lilac-and-white, pink-and-white, and also in some seven
solid body colors. Among these the small cameos in jasper, designed
mainly for settings of jewelry, and the cameo medallions and cameo
plaquettes are of particular interest to the collector of English
earthenware.
While the cameos were mainly of the blue-and-white jasper, there were
also those in other colors and white. The same is true of the larger
cameo medallions and cameo plaquettes, though the color pieces, other
than the blue-and-white, are of great rarity. The cameo medallions had
great vogue for ornamental decorative purposes. Jewel-boxes,
writing-cases, furniture, etc., were decorated with them. An example of
the sort is a drawer-and-chest cabinet in the collections of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In this instance both small cameos
and larger cameo medallions were employed in the decoration.
The cameo medallions and the cameo plaquettes were also in great demand
for architectural embellishments, for setting in mantels, over-mantels,
door-casings, door furniture, etc. The small cameos ranged in size from
one fourth to two and a half inches in diameter. Josiah Wedgwood’s
genius produced many useful and ornamental wares, among them cream ware
(1761) called Queen’s ware from 1765; white stoneware (1759); black
basalt ware (1766); fine white ware (1773-1775); jasper ware
(1775-1795); rosso-antico ware (1776); pearl-lustre ware (1776-1779),
and cane-colored jasper ware (1787). In perfection and fineness the
various colored jasper wares led them all, and the jasper cameos were
hardly surpassed by other pieces in this clay.
As the old firm founded by Josiah Wedgwood has continued in business
uninterruptedly from the eighteenth century, the recently revived modern
Wedgwood cameos which have appeared in some of the most attractive
recent jewelry awaken even a greater interest on the part of the
collector in the study of the old pieces. Beautiful as are the cameos of
modern Wedgwood jasper, those of Josiah’s own period (1775-1795) can
readily be distinguished, not only because of the somewhat less
soft-to-the-feel surface but also because all foreign wares imported
since 1891 are required by the tariff law to be plainly marked with the
designation of the country of their manufacture.
Josiah Wedgwood probably was inspired to experiment with his cameos and
cameo medallions and plaquettes through having come in contact with
James Tassie, celebrated for his copies of engraved gems in sulphur and
in vitreous compositions, some of which Josiah had purchased in 1769.
His fertile brain set to work on the problem of creating cameo
productions from his own ceramic materials. After surmounting untold
obstacles Wedgwood finally achieved complete success in his undertaking.
Immediately there was a great demand for the cameos, by the
manufacturing jewelers of Birmingham and Sheffield (who employed such
artists to mount them as Boulton and Watt), and elsewhere. The
mountings were of gold, of silver, and of cut steel. These last
mountings were the most in demand. This jewelry also became much sought
abroad and the demand in America was great.
The name cameo was first applied by Wedgwood in 1772. Nearly four
hundred and fifty objects were catalogued by 1777. Their best period was
from 1780 to 1795, 1787 being the year when Wedgwood had completely
mastered the art of the jasper cameos and cameo medallions. There were
then one thousand and thirty-two subjects listed--subjects drawn from
Egyptian mythology, Roman and Greek mythology; sacrifices; ancient
philosophers, poets, and orators; sovereigns of Macedonia, the fabulous
age of Greece; the Trojan War; Roman history; masks, Chimaeras;
illustrious moderns, and so on.
Even originally the small cameos were not cheap in price. In wholesale
lots of ten some five shillings apiece was asked for them by Wedgwood.
Unfortunately, all the cameo subjects are not now to be identified
completely, even where given in the old catalogue, as no descriptions
were placed on the subjects sold to the general public to identify them
with the catalogue entries.
Cameos and cameo medallions and plaquettes were made both in solid
jasper and in dip jasper. The former ceramic paste was colored clear
through, while the latter was surface-colored only. Wedgwood employed
some of the most famous designers of his day, among them John Flaxman,
William Hackwood, Roubillac, James Tassie, John Bacon, Thomas Stothard,
Webber, Pacetti, George Stubbs, William Greatback, Davaere, Angelini,
and Dalmazzoni; and such gifted amateurs as Lady Templeton and Lady
Diana Beauclerk drew for him.
The small cameos were fired but once; the large cameo medallions and the
plaquettes were given a second firing. Fine old Wedgwood is as soft as
satin to the touch, and most of it was left with a dull _matt_ surface,
although jasper is capable of receiving a high polish on the lapidary’s
wheel. While some few pieces of Wedgwood were not marked, nearly all of
it was. The collector should be told that many imitated pieces have
borne the name spelled with an _e_ after the _g_, thus: _Wedgewood_. No
genuine Wedgwood, old or modern, bears other spelling of the name than
“Wedgwood.”