Wedgwood
& Bentley;
both being impressed.
With regard to these marks of “Wedgwood & Bentley” it may be well to remark that all pieces bearing these names must have been made in the twelve years between 1768 and 1780.
Besides these marks, a variety of smaller ones—letters, flowers, figures, and numbers, both impressed and in colours, are to be seen on the different varieties of wares. These are simply workmen’s marks, or marks denoting period, &c., and, being private marks, concern only, and are of interest only, to the proprietors themselves.
The classes of goods manufactured by the Messrs. Wedgwood at the present day are much as they were in the times of the great Josiah. The same block moulds are used; the same principles are acted upon and carried out; the same mixture of bodies and glazes, with certain modifications, are in daily use; the same varieties of goods are manufactured; and consequently, many of his vases, medallions, services, and other goods, are reproduced at the present time. And although the ornamental goods now produced have not quite that charm of super-excellence about them which those made in the days of the first Josiah possess, Messrs. Wedgwood’s jasper and other ornamental goods now stand as far in advance of their competitors of the present day as those of the great Josiah did in advance of those of his own time; they are simply unsurpassable both in design and execution. It must be remembered that in the days of the first Josiah Wedgwood there was little competition in other branches of the potter’s art, and the great care, skill, and labour he bestowed upon his purely ornamental pieces was, there can be no doubt, amply repaid in the high prices he could obtain for them. This is not so now; for at the present day Art productions of attractive and showy character are so extensively made and so readily purchased at a low rate that the quiet, unobtrusive, but truly lovely bas-reliefs originated by Wedgwood only command a limited sale, and even then at such prices as will not admit of the same scrupulous attention being paid to their production as in the earlier days. That the present firm can produce work equal in excellence and beauty to that of their gifted ancestor is amply evidenced by a Portland vase, which in 1877 they made—regardless of trouble or cost—in exact imitation, both in colour and material, of the first fifty. This was polished and cut by a lapidary, and forms a priceless treasure of Art, and one that will bear the closest comparison with the great Josiah’s greatest work. The firm still produce “jasper,” “basaltes,” “red,” “cream-coloured,” and indeed all the other wares for which the works in the olden times were so famous. The jasper goods are still, as they have ever been since the first production of that marvellous body, their principal feature—the great speciality of their works. In this, since the days of Turner, although they have had many imitators, they have never even been approached, and their goods still maintain their old and high reputation. All the famous works of the olden time—from the Portland vase down through all the chaste and truly beautiful varieties of vases, plaques, medallions, services, &c.—are still made in all their beauty, with the addition of many new and ever-varying designs and combinations. In jasper, of which some excellent examples are given in the engravings, Messrs. Wedgwood have of late years produced some remarkably large and costly works. Notably among these may be named the magnificent table decoration, shown in London a few years back, and purchased by Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks from Messrs. Phillips & Pearce. It was designed by Mr. Pearce, and considered to be a faultless chef-d’œuvre of fictile Art.
The jasper is produced in dark and in light blue of various shades (with, of course, the raised figures and ornaments in white), in sage-green, in pink, and other tints. It is also produced both in “solid jasper”—that is, the solid coloured body throughout—and in “jasper dip,” which is the white jasper body with the colour laid on the surface. The “solid jasper” was re-introduced in 1856. The manufacture of majolica was commenced at Etruria in 1860, and is an important branch of the manufacture. With regard to majolica it is necessary to state that the true Italian majolica, as well as Minton’s reproductions of that famous ware, were made with a coarse cane-coloured body and decorated with opaque enamel colours; but that Messrs. Wedgwood were the first to use a white body and transparent coloured glazes. By this process much greater brilliancy of effect is produced than by the use of enamel colours.
In “malachite,” “mottled,” “agate,” and other wares, dessert, toilet, and trinket services, and a variety of both useful and ornamental articles, are made—ranging from the large-sized garden seat and the gigantic vase down to the small and delicately-formed ladies’ ring stand. In the “mottled” ware a marvellously rich and striking effect is produced by the combination of brilliant colours, while in the “malachite” the beautiful green and darker wavings of the stone are well imitated.
“Parian” was made by the Messrs. Wedgwood at Etruria about 1848 or 1849, and was of good quality. In this both busts and figures were produced, mainly of classical subjects, and the best modellers, Wyon, Beattie, and others, were employed in their production.
Another variety of ornamental work is the “inlaid” ware, in which a variety of articles are made. The effect of this style of ornamentation is much the same as the wood “Tunbridge ware.” It is striking in its novelty, and pleasing in its simplicity. This “inlaid ware” is made by the same process as the famous “Henri Deux wares;” an impress from a metal runner being filled up with a different coloured clay, and afterwards turned or scraped level on the surface. In this ware a magnificent and highly appropriate chess-table has been produced by Messrs. Wedgwood to use with the celebrated Flaxman chess-men.
