"Porphyry" Vase and cover

Wedgwood and Bentley

ca. 1770 · Creamware "porphyry ware" on black basalt plinth · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Classical antiquity became accessible and affordable to middle class English consumers in the eighteenth century, thanks to the firm of Josiah Wedgwood (1730–95) and his partner Thomas Bentley (1730–80). Decorative ceramic vessels such as this vase imitated designs inspired by classical antiquity, found in print sources such as Jacques Stella’s Livre de Vases. New decorative finishes and glazing techniques catered to the demands for novelty. The mottled greenish glaze covering the creamware body of this vase imitates the speckled effects of porphyry, an expensive carved hardstone found only in the households of the wealthy English patrons.

Artist

Wedgwood and Bentley

Date

ca. 1770

Medium

Creamware "porphyry ware" on black basalt plinth

Culture

British, Etruria, Staffordshire

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of the Starr and Wolfe Family, 2018