Vase

Date1775-1780

Artist/Maker Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795)

Maker Wedgwood (Est. 1759)

OriginEngland, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Etruria

MediumBlack basalt (dry-bodied stoneware)

DimensionsH: 14 1/2"; Diam: 7 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-3,A&B

DescriptionVase and cover of Lebes Gamikos form and in the style of the so-called "First-Day's Vases." The egg-shaped body on a spreading pedestal foot with ogee modelling. With two vertical handles applied as pointed arches and of somewhat incurvate form. The body with conical protrusions on either side of the bases of the handles. The collar short and vertical. The cover with straight sides rising to a gently domed shape with baluster-form finial. The finial with center pierced through. The foot ring essentially rectangular and the underside of the vase turned to create this. The base bolted to the body.

The basalt body with "Encaustic" slip painting. The recto of the vase with a domestic scene of three women in chiton and himation playing ball. One is seated in a klismos chair. This above a border of Greek key design encircling the lower third of the vase. The verso with a large central anthemion leaf with associated scroll work in the Attic-period tradition. The protrusions on the body with painted rosettes. The shoulder with a band of diagonal anthemion leaves connected by scrolls. The vertical edge of the cover with an egg and dart pattern. The baluster finial with the leaves and tassels between on the body; the upper edge picked out. The very edge of the ogee-form foot with an egg and dart design.
Label TextThe scene on this "First-Day" shape vase was long thought to depict "Volumnia, Wife of Coriolanus," being called upon to make a great personal sacrifice to save her town (see file for complete analysis of scene from 1804). The scene has also been erroneously identified as "Penelope and Her Maidens." However, careful comparison reveals that earlier attributions were incorrect. The scene on this vase is drawn from an Attic-period Hydria in the collection of the British Museum, and formerly in the collection of Sir William Hamilton, where it was published by d'Hancarville in 1766-1767. The Attic original depicts a domestic scene of three women playing ball. D'Hancarville eliminated the ball in his books, an omission that John Flaxman copied faithfully for Wedgwood.
Provenancewith Lindsay Grigsby, Richmond

Exhibition(s)