An ornamental column inlaid with a Wedgwood 'Slave Medallion'
Josiah Wedgwood (Burslem, Staffs. 1730 – Etruria, Staffs. 1795)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1787 - c. 1820
Materials
Onyx, marble, jasperware
Measurements
325 x 82 x 82 mm
Place of origin
Staffordshire
Order this imageCollection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1230999
Summary
Onyx and white marble, a miniature column on pedestal, c. 1800-20, the pedestal inlaid with a jasperware medallion, the so-called ‘Slave Medallion’, modelled by William Hackwood (c. 1757-1839) and manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, after 1787. An ornamental column of the ionic order with urn finial, made of honey onyx, with moulded white marble base. The square base of the column inscribed in black ‘Patria Cara Carior Libertos’ ('Our country is dear, but freedom is dearer’). Mounted on a white marble pedestal, the front inlaid with white oval jasperware medallion with black bas-relief depicting an enslaved African man half-kneeling, with manacled hands clasped and outstretched, entreating; titled above the figure in bas-relief ‘AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?’.
Full description
The cameo inlaid into the pedestal of this ornamental column is one of the so-called ‘Slave Medallions’ designed and manufactured by the entrepreneurial Staffordshire potter and abolitionist Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95). It depicts an enslaved African man manacled at the wrists and ankles, kneeling in supplication. Inscribed above the figure is the rhetorical question ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’. The design is based on the seal for the London Committee of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, a British abolitionist group formed in 1787 which educated the public about the abuses of the transatlantic slave trade. Wedgwood was a committee member and active campaigner for the Society. In October 1787, and in collaboration with his modeller William Hackwood, Wedgwood adapted the Society seal into a ceramic cameo that would become an emblem of the British abolitionist movement. Worn by advocates to communicate their allegiance to the cause, the cameos, which were available in black and white and blue and white jasperware and black basalt ware, were industrially produced and widely and freely distributed; a consignment having been shipped in 1788 to the American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (1706-90). They were mounted or customised into jewellery such as bracelets, necklaces and hairpins or inlaid into personal objects like snuffboxes. Versions depicting an enslaved African woman – asking ‘Am I not a woman and a sister?’ – were also produced. The image gained immediate prominence; copies were made for retail by the Staffordshire pottery T & J Hollins and the design was reproduced across a variety of media including plates, prints, tea caddies, tokens, medals, tobacco pipes, and enamel boxes. Of his friend Wedgwood’s campaign, the prominent abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) wrote, ‘[…] thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom.’ (Clarkson quoted in Guyatt 2000, p. 93) The Society seal, and Wedgwood’s translation of it, were designed to appeal to the sentiment and reason of white men and women, and worn to show affiliation to the abolitionist cause. Nevertheless, the legacy of this political image remains controversial. The imaging of the subject – an anonymised slave begging for his freedom – is generally considered to be stereotypical, an obfuscation of the true brutality of slavery and of the agency of enslaved men and women who actively fought for their liberation. Alice Rylance-Watson 2020
Provenance
Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 - 1987).
Marks and inscriptions
Base of column: Patria Cara Varior Libertos Around top rim, above figure: AM I NOT A MAN OR A BROTHER?
Makers and roles
Josiah Wedgwood (Burslem, Staffs. 1730 – Etruria, Staffs. 1795), manufacturer
References
Guyatt 2000: Mary Guyatt, 'The Wedgwood Slave Medallion, Values in Eighteenth-century Design', Journal of Design History, vol. 13, no. 2 (2000), pp. 93-105.