Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/150

 lapidary's wheel; of varying degrees of sub-opacity to translucency, sometimes a dead white, sometimes of an ivory hue. But its chief charm was derived from its behaviour in the kiln with certain metallic oxides. By means of these the jasper body could be stained or coloured of various exquisite hues either on its surface-layer or throughout its substance. The oxide, whether that of cobalt for blue, of manganese for lilac, of iron for yellow, of iron and of cobalt for green, did not form a layer (as with enamel on porcelain) lying as an adherent film upon the paste, but became thoroughly incorporated with the material to which it was applied. But there were two methods of employing the chromatic constituent: it might be mingled uniformly with the body, forming solid jasper, or it might be used as a wash upon the surface, thus constituting jasper dip. The later method was invented in 1777, but came into general use after the death of Bentley in 1780; sometimes, as in jasper strap and chequer work, both methods were used on the same piece. Jasper was employed in the production of an immense variety of objects, portrait and other medallions and plaques, tea and coffee sets, salt-cellars, bulb and flower-pots, lamps and candlesticks, bellpulls, scent-bottles, chessmen, and last and most esteemed of all, ornamental vases. The parts in relief, generally of white jasper, were separately formed in moulds and then affixed to the coloured body. Usually before firing, but sometimes after, corrections, undercutting, and further modelling could be given to the reliefs, and thus it happens that in many portrait cameos, plaques and vases, there are variations of excellence between different copies from the same mould. This remark applies particularly to the larger and more important pieces, such for instance as Wedgwood's remarkable reproduction in jasper of the antique glass cameo vase known as the Barberini or Portland vase. No two copies of the very limited original issue (about 1790) of this vase are exactly alike, the differences not being confined to colour of the ground and quality of the white reliefs, but extending to the modelling and finish of the surfaces of the figures. Wedgwood's original price for his best copies was fifty pounds, a sum which has been greatly exceeded in recent years, when copies have been sold for 173l., 199l., 10s., and 215l.. 5l. 5s. It may be here added that a iasper tablet, 28 inches by 11 inches, a sacrifice to Hymen, produced in 1787, was sold in 1880 for no less a sum than 415l. But the highest figure reached by a piece of jasper ware was in 1877, when a large black and white jasper-dip vase, decorated with the design of the 'Apotheosis of Homer,' fetched, with its pedestal, no less than 735l. It should be noted that Wedgwood frequently polished on the wheel the edges of his cameos, and occasionally even the grounds or fields of his smallest pieces, thus closely imitating the appearance of natural engraved stones.

It must not be thought that Wedgwood's energies were concentrated upon one variety of ornamental pottery, or that he failed to develop the production of useful ware. His catalogues were indeed confined to decorative pieces, but their extensive distribution, not only in English, but in French, Dutch, and German translations, drew attention to his productions, such as his dinner services, which became extremely popular all over Europe. Wedgwood's agents were generally active in obtaining orders for both useful and ornamental wares, while home and foreign patronage, royal, noble, or distinguished, greatly extended his reputation and his business. The two dinner services finished in 1774 for the Empress Catherine II of Russia consisted of 952 pieces, of cream-coloured ware, the decoration of which, in enamel with English views and with ornamental leaf borders, added a sum of over 2,000l. to the original cost of the plain services, which was under 52l.

Wedgwood's designs were drawn from numerous sources. Engravings, casts from antique and renaissance gems, the original work of many sculptors, English as well as foreign, such as John Flaxman, L. F. Roubiliac, Henry Webber, William Hackwood, James Tassie, Koeling, Hollingshead, and Pacetti, with designs taken direct from ancient vases and sculptures, furnished abundance of material. But Wedgwood was more than a mere chooser and employer of artists, a mere translator into clay of designs made by other hands in other materials, a mere copier of the antique. He possessed great power of adaptation, and an inventive faculty, which revealed itself not only in new materials and new methods, but in the origination of new forms. Into his selected designs, original or derivative, he infused something of his spirit and temper, and combined, wherever possible, beauty and utility. His work was distinguished by reticence in form and colour, and thus offered a marked contrast to the contemporary productions of Chelsea and Worcester. In fact, no other potter of modern times so successfully welded into one harmonious whole the prose and the poetry of