Early 19th C Jasper Plaque
4 inch in diameter.
Great condition for its age.
England and the world of ceramics were profoundly changed by Josiah Wedgwood. Born in 1730 in Burslem [now Stoke-onTrent], Staffordshire, England, Josiah was the son, grandson and great-grandson of potters. He grew up knowing the ins and outs of the making of ceramics.
He started his own company in 1759. He named it after himself. In the early 1760s Queen Charlotte was so impressed with his new earthenware, known as “cream-ware,” that she gave him permission to call it the “Queen’s Ware.”
In 1762 she appointed him Queen’s potter. In 1768 Josiah invented black basalt, a new solid matte black or gray-black stoneware. With his new success and experimentation, in the 1770s Josiah introduced jasperware to the ceramic world. The new stoneware and innovative designs influenced the look of ceramics in ways that have stood the test of time.
Josiah’s process for creating his jasperware was kept a very close secret. The main ingredient was unknown until recent modern times when a chemical analysis revealed it to be barium sulphate, an ingredient that many believe Josiah stumbled upon when doing his many experiments.
Some have described jasperware as a type of porcelain, while others called it a type of pottery. Josiah referred to it as earthenware. However, jasperware is a stoneware.
Josiah had eight children. It is interesting to note that Charles Darwin was their grandson. The eldest Wedgwood child, Susannah married Robert Darwin, and they became the parents of Charles Darwin. Charles, like his grandfather, married one of his cousins, Emma Wedgwood.
The intermarriages of the Darwins and Wedgwoods, coupled with the early deaths of three of Darwin’s ten children, may have contributed to his theory of evolution.
Josiah Wedgwood passed on January 3, 1795 at the age of 64, but his name and memory continues throughout the world as an innovative inventor and designer, and as a major industrialist of his era.
4 inch in diameter.
Great condition for its age.
England and the world of ceramics were profoundly changed by Josiah Wedgwood. Born in 1730 in Burslem [now Stoke-onTrent], Staffordshire, England, Josiah was the son, grandson and great-grandson of potters. He grew up knowing the ins and outs of the making of ceramics.
He started his own company in 1759. He named it after himself. In the early 1760s Queen Charlotte was so impressed with his new earthenware, known as “cream-ware,” that she gave him permission to call it the “Queen’s Ware.”
In 1762 she appointed him Queen’s potter. In 1768 Josiah invented black basalt, a new solid matte black or gray-black stoneware. With his new success and experimentation, in the 1770s Josiah introduced jasperware to the ceramic world. The new stoneware and innovative designs influenced the look of ceramics in ways that have stood the test of time.
Josiah’s process for creating his jasperware was kept a very close secret. The main ingredient was unknown until recent modern times when a chemical analysis revealed it to be barium sulphate, an ingredient that many believe Josiah stumbled upon when doing his many experiments.
Some have described jasperware as a type of porcelain, while others called it a type of pottery. Josiah referred to it as earthenware. However, jasperware is a stoneware.
Josiah had eight children. It is interesting to note that Charles Darwin was their grandson. The eldest Wedgwood child, Susannah married Robert Darwin, and they became the parents of Charles Darwin. Charles, like his grandfather, married one of his cousins, Emma Wedgwood.
The intermarriages of the Darwins and Wedgwoods, coupled with the early deaths of three of Darwin’s ten children, may have contributed to his theory of evolution.
Josiah Wedgwood passed on January 3, 1795 at the age of 64, but his name and memory continues throughout the world as an innovative inventor and designer, and as a major industrialist of his era.
4 inch in diameter.
Great condition for its age.
England and the world of ceramics were profoundly changed by Josiah Wedgwood. Born in 1730 in Burslem [now Stoke-onTrent], Staffordshire, England, Josiah was the son, grandson and great-grandson of potters. He grew up knowing the ins and outs of the making of ceramics.
He started his own company in 1759. He named it after himself. In the early 1760s Queen Charlotte was so impressed with his new earthenware, known as “cream-ware,” that she gave him permission to call it the “Queen’s Ware.”
In 1762 she appointed him Queen’s potter. In 1768 Josiah invented black basalt, a new solid matte black or gray-black stoneware. With his new success and experimentation, in the 1770s Josiah introduced jasperware to the ceramic world. The new stoneware and innovative designs influenced the look of ceramics in ways that have stood the test of time.
Josiah’s process for creating his jasperware was kept a very close secret. The main ingredient was unknown until recent modern times when a chemical analysis revealed it to be barium sulphate, an ingredient that many believe Josiah stumbled upon when doing his many experiments.
Some have described jasperware as a type of porcelain, while others called it a type of pottery. Josiah referred to it as earthenware. However, jasperware is a stoneware.
Josiah had eight children. It is interesting to note that Charles Darwin was their grandson. The eldest Wedgwood child, Susannah married Robert Darwin, and they became the parents of Charles Darwin. Charles, like his grandfather, married one of his cousins, Emma Wedgwood.
The intermarriages of the Darwins and Wedgwoods, coupled with the early deaths of three of Darwin’s ten children, may have contributed to his theory of evolution.
Josiah Wedgwood passed on January 3, 1795 at the age of 64, but his name and memory continues throughout the world as an innovative inventor and designer, and as a major industrialist of his era.