Obelisk
Wedgwood
Category
Objets de vertu
Date
1760 - 1800
Materials
Alabaster, Blue john, Marble
Measurements
48.5 cm (H)15.0 cm (W)
Place of origin
Stoke-on-Trent
Order this imageCollection
Hinton Ampner, Hampshire
NT 1530329.1
Summary
Sculpture, one of a pair, Derbyshire fluorspar obelisk with alabaster frames and mouldings, the rectangular bases mounted with blue-and-white jasper plaques on rectangular plinths, made by Wedgwood's factory, Stoke-on-Trent, England, whole object made about 1770-1800.
Full description
The industrialist Matthew Boulton bought a similar obelisk in 1768, when he wrote that he had found a use for 'Blew John...which is proper for turning into vases'; and obelisk drawings also feature in his Pattern Book (N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pp. 30, 138 and fig. 166). The plaque is possibly after a design by John Flaxman who worked for the Wedgwood factory from 1775 and influenced many of their later designs. Around 1788 Josiah Wedgwood set up a modelling studio in Rome to supply him with casts and copies of antique reliefs for copying in Jasper.
Makers and roles
Wedgwood, manufacturer