Table Lamps in Wedgwood's Jasper

The name "Wedgwood" is probably one of the most well known connected with pottery and pottery in the Western world.

Wood Table Lamps

Josiah Wedgwood was born in 1730 into a family of potters at Burslem in Staffordshire, the great centre of English ceramics. Wedgwood was known as a man full of new ideas, a man who experimented tirelessly to fabricate and refine his product.
 
One of Wedgwood's most excellent achievements was his painstaking amelioration of his celebrated jasper. Jasper would be best described as hard, fine grained, stoneware and was introduced in 1774, but it was not until 1779, that Wedgwood was able to successfully furnish plaques and vases in the exquisite range of pastel colours known today, as Wedgwood Jasper.
 
Wedgwood's years of trial and error with colours and firing techniques', led to the superb range of colours that we know today. Colours such as sage green, yellow, lilac and the celebrated pale blue, all derived from metallic oxides discovered by Wedgwood.
 
To fully understand and appreciate the position of a man like Wedgwood in his 18th century world, we need to understand a tiny of "how community worked".

His age was the age of the patron, or, one because of his public rank could level the way. community was very clearly classified between the public classes, from the rural working class, the merchant class and the titled, aristocratic land owning class.

It was this upper class which men like Wedgwood needed to request for retrial to for patronage and support.
 
Wedgwood went right to the top and through connections was received by the Queen.
Queen Charlotte, consort to King George Iii. The Queen was delighted with Wedgwood's presentation gift of rather plain and easy creamware, Wedgwood had done his homework! And knew that both the King and Queen had, what was considered, easy taste, so he knew exactly what to present.
 
His easy creamware was very quickly renamed "Queens's ware" and at once opened the door to the clients which were able to keep his gorgeous neo classic, expensive jasper.
 
Josiah Wedgwood died in 1795 and Inscribed on his monument in Stoke Parish church are the words

"He converted the English pottery commerce from a rude and inconsiderable manufactory into an elegant art and an prominent part of the national commerce".
 
© The antique & Vintage Table Lamp Co 2009

Table Lamps in Wedgwood's Jasper
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