A Catalogue of a Collection of Plaques, Medallions, Vases, Figures, Etc., in Coloured Jasper and Basalt, Produced by Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... HIS collection of Old Wedgwood was formed, partially, and from many sources, for Arthur Sanderson, Esq., in England, and was exhibited in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh, and later, in the rooms of Mr. Frederick Rathbone of London, the eminent authority on all matters relating to the greatest of English potters, and is now presented to the Art Institute of Chicago. It is fair to say that those who have had the Art Institute of Chicago in mind through many years of collecting, have sought to avoid duplication, and, instead, have essayed to construct a collection of Old Wedgwood, in the form of art objects, as well as in the form of useful ware, which shall be at once scientific and comprehensive. The addition of this assemblage of Old Wedgwood to the carefully selected and diversified objects of Wedgwood's work in the collection given by Mrs. Jene E. Bell and Mrs. Emma B. Hodge, in memory of their mother, Amelia Blanxius, was made especially to enrich and to complete, as nearly as possible, for the student and connoisseur of 18th century pottery in England, a series of the most characteristic achievements of Josiah Wedgwood. Respectful and grateful mention must be made here of the fact that much is owed to the abundant knowledge and fine taste of Mr. Frederick Rathbone, whose eminence as an expert and whose persistent labors to obtain many of these pieces have made the collection the more worthy of the great potter's name. It is suggested that students of ceramics who desire to acquaint themselves with Wedgwood's range of genius and accomplishment, shall begin with the study of Thomas Wheildon, into whose partnership Wedgwood went as a young man, and, proceeding in a chronological manner, with the help of the early biography by Miss...