Ewer Sacred to Bacchus: MAR.C.1B-1912

Titles

Ewer Sacred to Bacchus

Maker(s)

Factory: Wedgwood
Designer: Flaxman, John, Sr.

Entities

• Ewer
• ewer for wine

Categories

• Stoneware
• Black basalt

Description

Black basalt, moulded. Of antique ewer form standing on square plinth. The ewer for wine (B) is decorated with a satyr seated on the shoulder holding the neck, a goat's head on the shoulder at the front, and on each side, a swag of fruiting vine. The plinth is decorated with panels of interlacing branches. The plinth, foot and vase is held together by a rod, disk, and nut. A pair with MAR.C.1A-1912.

Notes

History note: Unknown before testator

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley

Dating

18th Century, Late
George III
Circa 1780 CE - 1850 CE

Note

John Flaxman Senior (1726-95) provided designs and plaster models for the ewers and invoiced Josiah Wedgwood in 1775 for 'A pair of Vases, one with a satyr & the other with a Triton Handle £3.3s.' (Wedgwood Archives, University of Keele, L1-204). The plasters are in the Wedgwood Archives.

The design probably originated in a pair of plaster vases, one decorated with a triton and one with a satyr, symbolizing water and wine, exhibited at the Académie de Saint-Luc in Paris in 1774 by Sigisbert-François Michel (1728-1811), nephew of Claude Michel, known as Clodion (1738-1814). See Documentation.

The ewers were no. 236 in the Wedgwood Shape Book (54.30019) where they were described as 'Marine & Satyr Handles & Ewer Sacred/to Neptune & Bacchus'. They are also in the Shape Book water-marked 1794 rebound in 1916. They sold at 42/- ( 2 guineas) in black and 105/- (5 guineas) in jasper. They were still in production in 1878, when included in The Wedgwood Illustrated Catalogue of Ornamental Shapes 1878.

School or Style

Neoclassical