base
- Museum number
- 1909,1201.33
- Description
-
Pedestals, pair, jasper ware, moulded, with flat square top, pierced by a circular hole, and flared sides. On each corner of the pedestals is an applied strip of clay moulded with acanthus leaf and berry ornament with a ram's head at the top and a hoof at the bottom. On each side is a white jasper relief of a cupid symbolising one of the four seasons; the attributes are a brazier for Winter; a bird and a nest filled with eggs for Spring; a flower garland for Summer; and a scythe and a sheaf of corn for Autumn. A band of interlaced circles, probably punched with a metal tool, ornaments the lower edge of each pedestal.Marked.
- Production date
- 1775 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 3.30 inches
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Dawson 1984
Two of the most interesting of all the pieces from the Wedgwood and Bentley era are this remarkable pair of pedestals which are amongst the only examples of jasper hollow ware made before Thomas Bentley's death.
Although the decoration is well-thought out, the grey-blue jasper ware, apparently washed darker blue on the upper surface, is of poor quality. Each pedestal is blistered and fire-cracked, especially underneath where there are three small circular holes on each corner for the release of gases. These extremely unusual objects were probably intended as supports for figures.
An illustration of a white jasper crouching Venus on a rocky base of pale blue jasper attached to a blue and white pedestal with the same mark as the Museum examples has been published elsewhere. The cupid symbolising Autumn is shown in a different attitude on that piece as he stands on a wheat-stalk and holds three stalks in his left hand, whereas on the Museum pedestal he stands on a piece of ground next to a shrub and has a sheaf of corn over his left shoulder. The pedestals could be merely misfired rejects but they could also be experimental pieces, the forerunners of the vases, ewers and teawares made in jasper ware after the death of Thomas Bentley.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1909
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1909,1201.33
