Wedgwood's Jasper Ware

The familiar densely uniform stone ware in solid colours ornamented in a contrasting hue was Josiah Wedgwood's most important contribution to ceramic art. Because of the popularity of the combination of a solid blue base with white bas-relief ornamentation the beginning collector identifies that colour combination as Jasper when in fact the pure jasper body is white. It was the ability of this new ceramic material to take an admixture of uniform colour that gave the wide range of combinations that mark the development of the range of decorative wares that Wedgwood and his successors at the Wedgwood potteries made into their trademark product.

The Jasper body was the product of years of painstaking experiments. It was in 1772 that Josiah started his quest for the new ceramic material and not until November 1774 that he made his first bas-relief figures. By the time that his partnership with Thomas Bentley was ended with Bentley's death in 1781 the range of Jasper products produced was extensive. Cameos, intaglios, and small busts were produced. Vases, plaques and bough pots were crafted of the new material. The crowning achievement and one that sealed jasperware as the most sought after decorative pottery in England and the Continent was his reproduction of the famous Portland Vase in 1790 after 4 years of laborious trials.

THE IMITATORS The importance of his discovery and the popularity of his designs produced a spate of imitators seeking to capitalize on the new range. Adams was the ware that most esembled Wedgwood's in all but colour. Others whose quality approached the original were Palmer, Wilson Neal and Hollins. On the Continent Sevres brough out a range of blue porcelian decorated in white and Meissen brought out a range of blue porcellian with intergrally cast white embossing named Wedgwoodarbeit, literally Wedgewood Work. The flattery of the imitators was certainly sincere. RESUMPTION OF PRODUCTION By the time of Josiah's death in 1795 jasper ware was at the height of fashion. By 1811 its popularity was in the wane and the production of jasper products tailed off. By 1817 vases were no longer being produced and by 1829 production in jasper had virtually ceased but experimentation continued. In 1844 production resumed using jasper as a dip and for applied decoration to a new white porcelain body. Solid jasper was not manufactured again until 1860 and even then the Wedgwood grandsons considered their new attempts as inferior to the Old Wedgwood produced by their grandfather. Jasper production was not interupted again until 1941 and World War II forced its abandonment. Production resumed in 1948 with a new composition that more closely resembled Josiah's original. Since that time production of newly designed jasper pieces has fueled the collectable market. Christmas and Mother's day plates have been an example of marketing aimed directly at the collector.

Collecting Wedgwood
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Jasper Ware
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