Terms and conditions of use
Trial piece for Frog service, dessert dish
(c. 1773)
Medium
earthenware (creamware)
Measurements
5.6 × 29.2 × 21.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Mr Keith M. Deutsher, Founder Benefactor, 1993
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Around 1773 Wedgwood produced a creamware dinner and dessert service for the Russian empress Catherine the Great. Famously known as the ‘Frog service’, it was ordered for her country retreat ‘La Grenouillère’ (The Frogmarsh) and each piece bears the crest of a green frog. It was decorated with views of British country houses, gardens, landscapesand picturesque ruins and was executed in monochrome, the dinner service with oak borders and an inner fluted border, and the dessert service with ivy borders and an inner ‘Etruscan’ ovolo border. This dish is thought to be a trial piece as it lacks either of the inner borders.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Staffordshire, England
Inscription
impressed (inverted) in base c.: WEDGWOOD
Accession Number
D7-1993
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
Oval dish decorated in sepia and black. Landscape scene, the west view of Orford Castle Suffolk, set within narrow husk border. Outer grapevine border bears shield with frog emblem in green.