For two-and-a-half centuries, Wedgwood china has dominated the dining tables in homes around the globe. Founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood, Wedgwood is one of the oldest potteries functioning today. Its pottery has been a household staple ever since its founding, and over the centuries has been the subject of a multitude of monographs, catalogs and journal articles. It has even figured in the works of Nineteenth Century author Enoch Arnold Bennett.
The new exhibit, “Wedgwood: 250 Years of Innovation and Artistry,” on view through February 27 at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Museum celebrates the accomplishments of the pottery and the genius of its founder, Josiah Wedgwood. Drawn from the museum’s own collection, from private and public collections, and representing the range of Wedgwood forms and styles, the exhibit comprises some 200 objects produced over the course of the pottery’s long history. The exhibit was organized by the Wedgwood Society of Washington, D.C., and the Wedgwood company in tandem with the DAR Museum. It is an impressive survey of the firm’s ceramic production.
While Wedgwood, born in Burslem, England, in 1730, came from a long line of potters, he brought a vastly different perspective to the business. When at 12, a bout of smallpox confined him to bed, he used his time to read and study; his scientific grounding stood him in good stead when he eventually set himself up as a potter. One of the residual effects of smallpox was the amputation of one of his legs and his consequent inability to power the wheel.
Undaunted, he focused his energies on design and experimentation. Early on he developed a device †the pyrometer †for measuring the extremely high temperatures inside the kiln, previously impossible to measure with a mercury thermometer. This innovation had a major impact on the pottery industry, and for it, he was elected to the Royal Society. Wedgwood’s other experiments resulted in the development of entirely new techniques and products.
Wedgwood worked first with his brother, Thomas, and later with Thomas Whieldon of Fenton before opening his own pottery at Ivy House, later expanding to the Brick House factory.
In partnership with Thomas Bentley, Wedgwood opened a new factory at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1769, to which was attached a village for his workers and their families. He was active and influential in matters of the day and, as such, was an ardent abolitionist. His scientific bent passed down in his family: one grandson was Charles Darwin.
Wedgwood introduced durable yet attractive wares, and experimented with clays and glazes, testing out hundreds of samples using formulas that he recorded in a secret code. He produced colored glazes and improved on the existing creamware. One of his major innovations was the creation of a refined creamware that could be painted, left unadorned or used for transfer printing. He presented a tea service made of this new material to Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, and was granted her permission to call it Queen’s Ware.
Another important innovation was his introduction of black basalt, the fine black stoneware he used to make copies of the Etruscan pottery that had been excavated recently in Italy and were all the rage. Wedgwood also created rosso antico, a vibrant red product that also harkened to antiquity. In 1769, he patented his technique of encaustic painting.
Between 1774 and 1775, after years of experimentation with barium sulfate, Wedgwood introduced his third major technological innovation, jasperware, the unglazed stoneware to which he applied bas relief, evocative of classical Greek designs. Jasperware’s original production techniques persist largely unaltered to this day.
Wedgwood’s scientific and technological achievements were certainly remarkable, but it was his marketing acumen that brought his pottery to the fore and kept it there. He guaranteed employee loyalty by providing health care at the Etruria factory. He was among the first to open a London showroom with changing displays, employed traveling salesmen and produced catalogs of his wares. Free delivery and money-back guarantees were other enticements. In addition, he sought and received endorsements of Wedgwood pottery from public figures, using them as advertising. A case in point is his 1762 appointment as the queen’s potter.
Wedgwood was on the lookout for more efficient distribution systems and was a major supporter of the construction of James Brindley’s Grand Trunk Canal, which would link the potteries of Stoke-on-Trent to the Trent and Mersey Rivers and ultimately London. Wedgwood knew that ceramics had a far better survival rate over water than over rough road. The completed waterway was a marked improvement on the transport of raw materials, as well as the distribution of the finished products.
By 1765, the Wedgwood pottery was a global entity, with much of its production made for export. His clientele ranged from Queen Charlotte of England and Catherine II of Russia to the Empress of China, the King of Naples and ordinary householders around the world.
The cream-colored earthenware he made in 1766 for Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, earned him the royal warrant. For Catherine of Russia, Wedgwood created the 944-piece Queen’s Ware Green Frog service in the English taste, so named for La Grenouillere Palace near St Petersburg, which was delivered in 1774. Each piece was hand painted with a green frog crest and a different English scene, for a total of 1,244 views. Some pieces were not included in the original shipment to Russia, most for technical anomalies, and have turned up in the marketplace over the years.
The Green Frog service was not the first Wedgwood ware to go to Russia; a prior imperial commission had been for a Queen’s Ware service in pink.
Wedgwood recognized, and capitalized on, the distinction among the classes and marketed his products accordingly †with unparalleled success. He had an exquisite sense of the public’s taste and developed ceramic pieces guaranteed to please. Tableware, tea services, tiles, candlesticks and snuff boxes, portrait medallions and cameos, busts and vases are just a few of the forms produced. Agate and tortoiseshell wares, wares in the form of fruits and vegetables, piecrust ware, laboratory ware and invalid supplies are a few more.
Josiah Wedgwood’s company carried on in his spirit after his 1795 death under his son, Josiah II, and grandson, but the first part of the Nineteenth Century proved challenging. The Napoleonic Wars had diminished the formerly robust Continental trade, and the War of 1812 derailed trade with the United States.
The company added bone china, art pottery and majolica, such as its Argenta line, and Art Nouveau during the Nineteenth Century, moving away from its tried and true neoclassical forms in response to popular taste. Important artists were retained to decorate the wares. Victoria ware, suggestive of pâte-sur-pâte, was introduced, along with an array of other new designs, like Auro Basalt and Golconda.
Wedgwood began the early Twentieth Century deep in the handcrafts of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced artware by such artists Louise and Alfred H. Powell. Fairyland lustre was introduced late in 1915.
The Barberini vase, also known as the Portland vase, a dark blue transparent glass with white reliefs discovered between 1622 and 1644 in a Roman sarcophagus, found its way into the collection of a duchess of Portland. Josiah Wedgwood saw the vase at a 1786 sale of her collection, was eager to have it and bid. He was outbid by the Duke of Portland, who allowed him to copy it in jasperware; he made 50 copies, which were subscribed immediately. A Wedgwood example of the vase is on view.
Other objects of interest in the exhibit include a Fairyland lustre vase from about 1920, a creamware coffee pot from about 1760 made by Josiah Wedgwood and Thomas Whieldon, jewelry and a large range of personal accessories. An earthenware-covered jug on view, produced around 1935, is significant as it is part of a bournvita set made for Cadbury. The set was the first at Wedgwood to be mass-produced using a conveyor belt, a system that enabled the factory to remain open during World War II.
The tools used to create Wedgwood products down the centuries, such as roulettes and potter’s ribs, are also on view. Not all the ceramics on view are original, but all were made using original forms. Others are contemporary pieces commissioned by Wedgwood.
The DAR Museum is at 1776 D Street N.W. For information, 202-628-1776 or www.dar.org/museum .
