Wedgwood
Distinguished House of Wedgwood
Pegasus Diced Plate
- Limited Edition: 300
- Gift Boxed
- Width: 23cm
- Saxon Blue, Turquoise, White and Lilac Jasper
When Josiah Wedgwood I first issued his now world-famous Jasper ware, pale blue with white Jasper bas-relief ornamentation was frequently used. Tri-colour Jasper is relatively rare. Here we have an exceptional four colours - Saxon blue, white, lilac and dark turquoise - in one magnificent plate.
The chequered, or 'diced', pattern is achieved by cutting through the Saxon blue Jasper dip down to the white Jasper ground, using the rose engine-turning lathe. The lathe used today is an exact copy of the 18th-century original, introduced to the ceramic industry by Wedgwood himself.
The central cameo depicts 'Three Muses watering the winged horse, Pegasus'. This cameo, and every single ornament on the plate, is made in the appropriate colour of Jasper clay using traditional moulds, then each relief is delicately but firmly applied to the coloured Jasper ground by a highly trained and experienced ornamentor.
Jasper is Wedgwood's 'signature' ware. Of the many ceramic bodies invented by Josiah Wedgwood, it was the most difficult to perfect. Having sourced materials around the country and even from as far as America, and undertaken thousands of trials, Josiah declared himself satisfied in 1774.A few years later, a Wedgwood catalogue proclaimed Jasper to be capable of 'receiving colours through its whole substance, in a manner which no other body, ancientor modern, has been known to do.' It is just reward for Josiah Wedgwood's skills and perseverance that Jasper is held in the same high esteem as it was more than 200 years ago.
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