Josiah Wedgwood and Sons and John Flaxman, Jasperware vase with lid, c. 1790, Jasperware with applied relief decoration, 16.25” x 5.5”, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Public Domain via Wikipedia.
Most people are familiar with Wedgwood’s jasperware, but not many realize the origins of the immediately recognizable blue and white porcelain.
In the mid 1770’s, Josiah Wedgwood invented jasperware to meet to the rising demand in England for all things inspired by Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The porcelain is designed to look like classical cameo glass with white sculpted relief fixed to a matte and colored ground. Wedgwood china was the first affordable, factory-produced porcelain, using the same designs by sculptor John Flaxman on several different types of objects.
This particular Wedgwood jasperware vase shows Apollo surrounded by the nine muses. The primarily decorative subject matter is typical for decorative art from this Neoclassical era, with a focus on graceful style rather than a narrative with a message.
