. The Wedgwoods: being a life of Josiah Wedgwood; with notices of his works and their productions, memoirs of the Wedgwood and other families, and a history of the early potteries of Staffordshire. these bodies Wedgwood produced somemarvellously fine ornamental vases, in imitation of por-phyry, granite, various marbles, agates, and other stones,and decorated with medallions, festoons, &c., in white, orgilt. The material was so exceeding hard, that it wouldbear grinding and working by the lapidary, and took asgood and fine a polish as tlie stone itself. I have in my ownpossession some small pie
. The Wedgwoods: being a life of Josiah Wedgwood; with notices of his works and their productions, memoirs of the Wedgwood and other families, and a history of the early potteries of Staffordshire. these bodies Wedgwood produced somemarvellously fine ornamental vases, in imitation of por-phyry, granite, various marbles, agates, and other stones,and decorated with medallions, festoons, &c., in white, orgilt. The material was so exceeding hard, that it wouldbear grinding and working by the lapidary, and took asgood and fine a polish as tlie stone itself. I have in my ownpossession some small pieces of Wedgwoods producingwhich have been thus ground and polished, and presentas fine a surface as could well be got from the hardestmarble. Some examples of vases in this material are shown in theaccompanying woodcut. In this engraving the centre vase,belonging to Mr. Oliver, is a fine example^ twelve inches t EMITATION PORPHTEY AGATE, ETC- -BASALTES. 189 liigh. It has on its front a medallion of Cupid Sliavingbis bow, after Correggio, which, with the heads, &c., is other two, one of which has the handles and festoons,and the other the medallion, in white, are from my own. collection, and are excellent and characteristic the collections of Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. Mayer, Mr. Marjori-banks, Mr. Eathbone, and others, as well as in differentmuseums, may be seen splendid examples of vases, &c., inthis beautiful material. Of the black ware or basaltes, an infinite variety ofgoods was in the course of a very few years a dense and compact body, hard enough to strike firewhen struck on steel, capable of receiving and retaining ahigh polish, untouched by acid or metal, bearing a muchmore intense heat than the stone itself, of the deepest andpurest colour, and yet having a sm*face as soft, delicate, andsmooth as an infants flesh, this material was capable ofbeing moulded and used in a variety of ways, and of pro-ducing works of the highest and most exquisite
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidwedgwoodsbei, bookyear1865
