WEDGWOOD & BYERLEY, York Street, S.t James's Square.

Date1809

Publisher Rudolph Ackermann

MediumEtching and aquatint with hand color

DimensionsOverall: 5 5/8 × 9 3/8in. (14.3 × 23.8cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1968-35

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "WEDGWOOD & BYERLEY,/ York Street, S.t James's Square./ For N.o 2 of R_Ackermann's Repository of Arts:/ Published Feb/y 1809 at 101, Strand, London."
Label TextLocated in the fashionable St. James’s Square, the interior of Wedgwood’s London showroom is the subject of this print. The showroom was managed by Thomas Byerley, the nephew of innovative English potter Josiah Wedgwood. Since the Wedgwood manufactory was located in the Staffordshire region of England, the London showroom provided the Wedgwood pottery with a place to exhibit the manufactory’s goods and offered the city’s consumers a convenient location to view and purchase Wedgwood’s numerous ceramic innovations. The print appeared in the first volume of Rudolph Ackermann’s February 1809 issue of The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufacturers, Fashions, and Politics. Along with the view of the showroom, the publication included a short biography of Josiah Wedgwood and a description of his pottery and its technological advances over its then half-century existence.