{"id":16663,"date":"2022-11-11T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=7320"},"modified":"2022-11-11T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T14:22:12","slug":"wedgwood-jasperware-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/wedgwood-jasperware-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedgwood Jasperware: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Homes & Antiques\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 11 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Josiah Wedgwood was instrumental in making English pottery a leader on the world stage. One of his greatest inventions was Jasperware. The smooth, hard stoneware, fashioned in a neoclassical style, rivalled Chinese porcelain in its allure and was snapped up by Georgian consumers<\/a>, ensuring Wedgwood became a household name. Still produced by the company today, it remains as recognisable now as it was 200 years ago.<\/p>\n

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A beautifully detailed antique Jasperware vase from Rachel\u2019s & Michael\u2019s Antiques. Photography by Philip Sowels.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What inspired Wedgwood Jasperware?<\/h2>\n

From the second half of the 18th century, Britain was gripped by neoclassical fever. Excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii had unearthed captivating treasures, and the architect Robert Adam was designing buildings influenced by ancient Greece and Rome. In Burslem, Josiah Wedgwood was similarly entranced and worked to refine his stoneware into something that might match the artefacts of the ancients. In 1774 he hit on the formula for a hard, finegrained stoneware that could be stained in a variety of colours. The clay was shaped into vases, urns, plaques and tableware, and decorated with applied figures and motifs, inspired by classical art. At the time, the most famous classical artefact was the cameo glass Portland Vase, made in the first century. Josiah worked for many years to replicate it, a feat he finally achieved in 1790.<\/p>\n

What were the key design movements of the Georgian era?<\/a><\/h4>\n

The Georgian era was a golden age for craftsmanshop and design. Here we explore some of the most influential movements and trends of the era.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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With it\u2019s chalky blue-grey finish, Jasperware is still the most iconic of Josiah Wedgwood\u2019s designs. Vases\u00a0from Rachel\u2019s & Michael\u2019s Antiques, photography by Philip Sowels.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Who was Josiah Wedgwood?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate Josiah Wedgwood\u2019s (1730-1795) contribution to pottery. Born into a family of potters in Burslem, he was the youngest of 12 children, and showed early promise as a potter until smallpox left him unable to operate the wheel. He turned instead to design and experimentation and it was this instinct to find new ways of doing things that led to his success. He embraced the innovations of industrialisation and, by the 1770s, his factory was the most successful pottery in England. Today he is seen as a visionary, who transformed pottery from a cottage craft into an international industry.<\/p>\n

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A portrait of Josiah Wedgwood by George Stubbs, c1780.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

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