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Maker/s

Wedgwood & Bentley (factory)

Vien, Marie Thérèse after (etcher) [ULAN info: French artist, 1729-1805]

Collection

J.W.L. Glaisher

Category

lead-glazed earthenware
agateware (sub-category)

Name

vase

Name

cover

School/Style

Neoclassical

Description

Solid agate body, with cream-coloured handles bearing remnants of gilding; white marble plinth. Shape 1. Ovoid with pronounced shoulder, incurved neck with projecting ring round the top. On each side of the shoulder there is a satyr's head with long horns rising up to form handles and curving over to join the projecting rim. The vase is supported on a narrow circular foot with a short stem. The hole in the base for the attachment of the rod and nut has been filled in with a white composition.

Production Notes

This form was no. 1 in the Wedgwood Shape Book. It was based on an etching by Marie-Therèse Reboul Vien (1729-1805), plate 13 in Suite de Vases composée dans le Goût de l'Antique, Paris, 1760, after designs by her husband, the painter Joseph Marie Vien (1716-1809).Gilding was not continued by Wedgwood for very long. Already on 6 February 1769 he wrote from London to Bentley in Burslem (MS E25-18227) on the subject of stopping

Production Place

Etruria (factory) (place)

Staffordshire (factory) (county)

England (factory) (country)

Technique Description

Solid agate body, thrown, with applied moulded cream-coloured handles bearing remnants of gilding; white marble plinth.

Dimensions

height: (whole): 23.5 cm
width: (whole): 12.9 cm

Period

late 18th century
George III

Date

circa 1769 to 1773

Provenance

bequeathed: Glaisher, J.W.L., Dr 1928 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

unknown before testator

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Documentation

1. Rackham, Bernard (1935 (reprinted Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1987)) Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: 94]
   [comments: Publ. p. 94, no. 659]
2. Vien, Joseph Marie (1760) Suite de Vases composée dans le Goût de l'Antique, Colmar, Paris
   [comments: Ref.pl. 13, an etching by Marie-Therèse Reboul Vien (1729-1805) after a design by her husband, the painter Joseph Marie Vien (1716-1809).]
3. Clifford, Timothy (1978) Some English Vases and their sources, Part I, [page: pp. 159-73]
   [comments: Ref. pl. 82. Shape 1 was also made in black basalt, white terracotta stoneware with surface agate, porphyry, or variegated surfaces.]
4. Young, Hilary (1995) The Genius of Wedgwood, London: Victoria and Albert Museum [page: p. 108]
   [comments: Ref. p. 108, E19; the etching and engraving, dated 1760, ill. p. 107.]
5. (1975) Mr Wedgwood, Nottingham: City of Nottingham Leisure Services [page: p. 11]
   [comments: Cf. A vase of creamware with marbled surface, marked 'Wedgwood & Bentley', in the Nottingham Museum (25.65), illustrated, Nottingham, 14 June to 7 September 1975, Mr Wedgwood, p. 11, no. 13, ill. p. 20.]
6. Dawson, Aileen (1984) Masterpieces of Wedgwood in the British Museum, London: British Museum Press [page: pp. 33-4]
   [comments: Cf. Two surface agate vases similar in appearance to the Fitzwilliam's, in the British Museum, colour pl. 2b. See text p. 33-4.]
7. Blake Roberts, Gaye (1984) Wedgwood in London, 225th Anniversary Exhibition 1759-1984, London
   [comments: Cf. A vase in the Wedgwood Museum (acc. no. 1185) with surface agate decoration, cream satyr masks picked out in gilding, and white jasper square plinth, see p. 21, E 2. Dated to c. 1773-4.]
8. Phillips (1998) Good European Ceramics, Glass and Enamels, London: Phillips [page: pp. 198-99] 3-4 June 1998)
   [comments: Cf. Four white terra-cotta stoneware vases with underglaze sponged colour effects and gilding, pp. 198-199, nos. 85, see also colour pl. 76, 86, 87-8, see also colour pl. 229. These have basalt bases.]
9. Young, Hilary (1995) The Genius of Wedgwood, London: Victoria and Albert Museum [page: pp. 107-10]
   [comments: Cf. A black basalt vase of this shape with festoons, and a white terracotta stoneware with porphyry glaze, both marked 'WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY:ETRURIA', and both in the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, (acc. nos. 5173 and 178 respectively), see p. 108, E20 ill. p. 107; and pp. 108-9, E21. Also, a vase of solid agate with satyr head handles, but otherwise of a different form, is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, (acc. no. Circ. 1&A-1923), see p. 110, E26, where a date of c. 1770-3 is suggested]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.659 & A-1928 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 11648; Input Date: 2000-09-04 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)