'Hamilton vase'
Wedgwood
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1770 - 1780
Materials
Black basalt with 'encaustic' decoration
Measurements
200 mm (Height); 195 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Etruria
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 870785.1
Summary
A 'Hamilton vase' after the antique, in Wedgwood and Bentley's black basalt ware. Upturned handles and circular foot on bell-shaped body decorated in red with classical figures. Unmarked. One of a pair, c. 1770-80.
Full description
The publication of a catalogue of Sir William Hamilton’s collection of Greek cases between 1766 and 1767 offered Josiah Wedgwood and his partner Thomas Bentley a limitless source for vase designs. Wedgwood’s black stoneware, known as ‘black basalt’, was ideal for interpreting the antique, red-figured ware. Hundreds of vase shapes were produced, from which customers could assemble their own garnitures – either plain black or enamel-painted, termed ‘encaustic’ after an antique process. This vase, its pair (NT 870785.2) and another vase at Saltram (NT 870783) may have formed an assembled garniture. Text adapted from Patricia F. Ferguson, Garnitures: Vase Sets from National Trust Houses, V&A Publishing, p. 55.
Provenance
At Saltram by 1924 and by descent to Montagu Brownlow Parker (1878-1962), 5th Earl of Morley and formed part of the Endowment to NT.
Makers and roles
Wedgwood, potter