Newly Discovered Wedgwood Experiment

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Wedgwood Portland Vase Bonhams
March 8 sale includes a remarkable, though flawed piece of early
Wedgwood estimated to sell for £7,000 to £10,000.

Pictured right: The Lord
Dacre Copy: an important Wedgwood trial ‘First Edition’ Portland
vase
circa 1787-90 cast in ‘Barberini Black’ jasper, applied in white
relief with the myth of Peleus and Thetis, the basal disc with
a portrait believed to be of Paris, son of King Priam of Troy,
the crisp reliefs with characteristic undercutting, 26.5cm high,
unmarked (some kiln blisters and other evidence of misfiring,
some losses to the relief at the rim of the base disk and to
the head of one male figure, minor chipping around the footrim)

Portland vases are named after their distinguished owners, and
this previously unrecorded example belonged to the eminent academic
Lord Dacre, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914- 2003). The
Portland Vase was Josiah Wedgwood’s greatest accomplishment.
He had to get the mix of clay and firing temperature just right
and there were times when vase after vase failed in the kiln.

Eventually the master potter triumphed, and the almost faultless
example in the British museum is testament to his achievement.
Sadly the Lord Dacre copy is flawed – the neck sank and blisters
erupted on the body in the intense heat of the kiln. Nevertheless
it is still a remarkable piece of 18th century pottery and an
important insight into the experimental work of Britain’s greatest
ceramicist.

Visit the WCN
Wedgwood information pages and message board.

For more details visit the Bonhams
web site.