Wedgwood's basalt, a hard, black, stonelike material known also as Egyptian ware or basaltes ware, was used for vases, candlesticks, and realistic busts of historical figures.
| Wedgwood, Josiah (1730-95), |
English potter, whose works are among the finest examples of ceramic art. Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, on July 12, 1730, into a family with a long tradition as potters. At the age of nine, after the death of his father, he worked in his family's pottery. In 1759 he set up his own pottery works in Burslem. There he produced a highly durable cream-colored earthenware that so pleased Queen Charlotte Sophia that in 1762 she appointed him royal supplier of dinnerware. From the public sale of queen's ware, Wedgwood was able, in 1768, to build near Stoke-on-Trent a village, which he named Etruria, and a second factory equipped with tools and ovens of his own design. At first only ornamental pottery was made in Etruria, but by 1773 Wedgwood had concentrated all his production facilities there. |
|
During his long career Wedgwood developed revolutionary ceramic materials, notably basalt and jasperware.
Wedgwood's basalt, a hard, black, stonelike material known also as Egyptian ware or basaltes ware, was used for vases, candlesticks, and realistic busts of historical figures. |
| Jasperware, his most successful innovation, was a durable unglazed porcelain most characteristically
blue with fine white cameo figures inspired by the ancient Roman Portland Vase.
Many of the finest designs were the work of the British artist John Flaxman. |
 |
After Wedgwood's death in Etruria on January 3, 1795, his descendants carried on the business, which still produces many of his designs. Wedgwood was the grandfather of the British naturalist Charles Darwin. |
Go back to
the Pottery homepage