Terms and conditions of use
Josiah Wedgwood, medallion
(1782)
Medium
stoneware (blue jasper)
Measurements
10.0 × 8.1 × 1.1 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1868
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This medallion is a rare example of a work signed by the modeller. At the time of purchase the medallion was recorded as being made of Sydney clay, this information being inscribed on the reverse by its previous owner William Story. If this is so, it contains some of the clay that was sent to Wedgwood in 1788 by Captain Phillip via Sir Joseph Banks. In 1860 Story had written an essay in which he mentioned that in Staffordshire he had known ‘the late Mr Wedgwood, of Maer, son of the great potter’ and that Josiah II had given him the medallion portrait of his father together with the information that it was made from ‘the Botany Bay clay’. Josiah II had emphasised Josiah I’s high regard for the Sydney clay, which was a potential import from the colony.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Staffordshire, England
Inscription
impressed (vertically) in rear c.r.: WEDGWOOD
incised in undercut of arm l.r.: W · H
Accession Number
236-D1M
Department
International Decorative Arts
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Medallion portrait of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) in blue jasper dip, is a rare example of a work signed by the modeller. The previous owner inscribed on the reverse that the medallion was made with some Sydney clay, which had been sent to Wedgwood in 1788 by Capt Phillip. Displayed in frame.
Frame
This delightful little frame is in exceptional condition and forms an interesting companion to the frames by Fletcher and Thallon on miniatures in the collection. All three examples present small-scale works in frames that are scaled down from large format frames used for paintings. This frame is the one mentioned in the NGV Register of Accounts 1870–72: paid Isaac Whitehead, February 1, 1870 for: (among a list of items) – Medallion framed.1 The frame is not the original framing or presentation of the medallion. It reflects a preference of the NGV after acquisition. Whitehead produced other frames for small-scale works, notably a suite of sixty-eight paintings of distinguished gentlemen, now in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.2
Notes
1 PROV 5866, NGV Register of Accounts 1870–72, Unit 1. I am grateful to Liana Fraser for this reference (from research carried out in various archives for the Conservation Department in 1995).
2 This information was brought to my attention by Anne Rowland, Registrar, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Isaac Whitehead
Melbourne
Date
1870
Materials
The frame uses composition ornament on a wooden chassis. Burnished water gilding has been used to accent the sight edge and parts of the flowers and leaves at the corners. The slip is water gilded. The remainder of the frame appears to be oil gilded. A recess in a wooden oval, covered with scarlet plush, houses the stoneware medallion. The surface of the plush has been embellished with impressed pattern work in each of the four corners, in the same way that a gilded oval flat might be ornamented with composition detail. The working edge is painted.
Frame Condition
The frame is in near perfect original condition, though the scarlet plush has faded substantially.
Dimensions
27.5 x 25.8 x 0.5 cm