Josiah Wedgwood & Sons (British, founded 1759)

Vase with Candlemas Fairyland lustre pattern, design ca. 1915 production ca. 1915-1932

About

• The storied firm of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons first opened its doors in 1759 in Ivy House, Staffordshire. From that time it has been at the forefront of research in ceramics composition, with new wares created from the 18th century to the 20th. Eighteenth-century innovations included the creation of a creamy earthenware known as Queen’s Ware introduced in 1765, seen in the lidded urn with handles in the shape of sibyls on the previous page. The following year, Wedgwood expanded his operations at an estate called Etruria, also in Staffordshire. At the same time he introduced what was to become his best-known ware, a matte-surfaced stoneware that could be tinted, known as jasperware. The small 18th-century jasperware teapot and teacup are decorated with mythological scenes in white.
  Also in the 18th century, Wedgwood perfected a black ware named after basalt, a fine-grained volcanic rock used for sculpture in ancient times. It was used in combination with terracotta-colored ware to imitate the colors found on ancient vases, as in the oval plaque representing the ancient Callipygian Venus, and alone in sculptures such as the sphinx, above, which was made at the time of the French occupation of Egypt when such themes were fashionable. Early in the 20th century, the firm of Wedgwood introduced a completely new, modern ware called Fairyland Lustre, which combined swirling colors with exotic figural compositions, as seen on this page in the lily-shaped vase.