Wedgwood factory

The Wedgwood ceramic manufactory was founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759. Born in 1730, Josiah Wedgwood had apprenticed under his older brother, Thomas. In 1754, Wedgwood partnered with the well-known potter Thomas Whieldon, when Wedgwood began experimenting with new techniques for the manufacture of ceramics. In March, 1759, Wedgwood finalized his first invention: a vibrant green glaze that became particularly popular in the design of naturalistic ceramics in the shapes of fruits and vegetables. Barely more than a month after this development, Wedgwood ended his partnership with Whieldon and formed his own manufactory at the Ivy House Works, Burslem, England.

Now working independently, Wedgwood began working on improvements to formulas for creating cream ware, a popular style of white earthenware used for everyday dishes. Though many Staffordshire potters had made their own adjustments to improve the production of cream ware, Wedgwood's experiments created a more refined glaze and a new standard for the production of earthenware and cream ware. Wedgwood employed the Liverpool printing company Sadler and Green to apply transfer prints and enameled decorations to adorn the otherwise plain cream ware style. The popularity of Wedgwood's cream ware allowed him to expand his manufactory to the larger Black House Works in 1762. In 1765, Wedgwood's popularity as a manufacturer of cream ware increased several-fold when Queen Charlotte ordered an adorned cream ware tea service. The Queen's patronage allowed Wedgwood to title himself "Potter to Her Majesty" and to name his cream ware "Queen's Ware."

In 1769, Wedgwood entered into a partnership with Thomas Bentley to make ornamental wares, such as vases and figurines. Bentley, a wealthy, well-educated Liverpool merchant, served as Wedgwood's agent at his London showroom and advised Wedgwood on current artistic trends. The factory for Wedgwood and Bentley's ornamental ware opened in 1769 at the Ridge House Estate located between Burslem and Stoke. The factory was named "Etruria" in reference to the popularity of ancient pottery recently excavated in Greece and Italy.

Wedgwood continued his experiments and perfected the manufacture of black basalt ware in 1768, a style he patented in 1769. Created from a mixture of refined car from local coal deposits and manganese, black basalt ware was used to create ceramic works with a polished, black-bodied appearance meant to evoke ancient sculptures and vases. Encaustic colors were hand-painted on some basalt ware pieces to emulate ancient Greek red-figure vases. Catalogues of the collections of notable European and British antiquities collectors, like Sir William Hamilton, were newly available across Europe, and were used by Wedgwood as guidelines for these Classically-inspired vases.

One of Wedgwood's most prestigious large commissions came in 1770. Catherine II, Empress of Russia, ordered a Queen's Ware table service made in a naturalistic "husk" pattern with mulberry pink floral decoration. Then, in 1773, Catherine ordered the 'Frog' service for Chesmenski Palace, which was located near a frog swamp. The massive 952-piece Queen's Ware service was decorated with hand-painted overglaze enamel views of English gardens, ruins, palaces, castles, and other sites. Each piece was appropriately decorated with a crest depicting a green frog.

Wedgwood's ingenuity also resulted in Rosso-Antico in 1776, a red, unglazed stoneware often used in creating classically inspired works with white or black applied reliefs; Caneware, also in 1776, a buff-colored stoneware ideal for molding detail; and pearl ware in 1779, a glaze with a whiter tone than cream ware to which blue transfer prints were applied. However, Wedgwood's most famous creation was jasper ware, which he first invented in 1771 and had perfected by 1775. Jasper ware, a dense, white stoneware, could be colored using a thin wash or by using metal oxides to stain the surface, creating a variety of colors. Colored jasper ware was often decorated with uncolored, white jasper ware bas-reliefs, creating an effect that conformed to the popularity of neoclassical and classical art. Jasper ware was used most frequently in the production of cameos, medallions, tablets, busts, figures, intaglios and vases. Perhaps the most famous of Wedgwood's jasper ware works are his copies of the ancient masterpiece the Portland Vase, first produced in 1789.

Wedgwood's inventions were not restricted to ceramic styles, but also included the creation of new technologies for the production of ceramics. His development of equipment such as the colorimetric thermoscope, the graded thermometer, and the engine-turning lathe earned him election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1783. Wedgwood's public life also included philanthropy and support for political issues. Wedgwood was a supporter of the American and French revolutions and campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

Wedgwood died in 1795, and management of the Etruria factory was passed to his second son, also named Josiah Wedgwood. Throughout the early nineteenth century, the factory continued to develop new techniques and styles for ceramic manufacturing, but the company's prosperity began to fade. The manufacture of bone china and jasper ware were discontinued during this period.

After the younger Wedgwood's death, the factory was inherited by his son, Francis. Francis Wedgwood, though not particularly interested in the manufactory, formed a successful partnership with Robert Brown and by mid-century, after exhibiting its wares at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Wedgwood was again rising in popularity. Wedgwood and Brown restored jasper ware to the factory's products and Carrara, a white statuary porcelain, was introduced. During this period, artists were hired to serve as designers and art directors for the factory's output. In 1895, Wedgwood received a commission for a large tableware service for the White House in Washington, D.C., its most prestigious tableware commission since its eighteenth-century royal commissions.

Wedgwood's popularity fell in the early twentieth century and operations were moved in 1935 from the structurally damaged Etruria factory to a site at Barlaston. Interest in Wedgwood wares increased in the mid-twentieth century and the company expanded, going public in 1967. In 1986, Wedgwood was acquired by Waterford Glass and the companies were consolidated as Waterford Wedgwood.