THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509220157
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
JOSIAH WEDGWOOD was a poor, one-legged, English potter who revolutionized the art and science of ceramics in the 18th century. Josiah's descendants include the evolutionist Charles Darwin.
Another descendent is Lord Piers Wedgwood of Barlaston, a genial, portly spokesman for the pottery. I found him pouring tea in the lobby of the Williamsburg Inn.
``My first visit to Williamsburg was in 1980,'' he recalled. ``I saw the film that tourists usually see here. In it the colonists were tossing things out of shop windows. (Presumably because they were of British manufacture.) One of the things tossed was a barrel laden with Wedgwood Queen's Ware products.'' He smiled because Josiah Wedgwood had supported the revolution.
``Today the United States is the largest consumer of Wedgwood products outside England,'' he noted.
Although many still associate Wedgwood with sky blue jasperware decorated with Greek and Roman classical scenes, it's but a fraction of the Wedgwood output, which ranges from affordable earthenware to more expensive china.
In 1939 Colonial Williamsburg granted Wedgwood the first license granted under its reproduction program. Today, the Craft House stocks a variety of Wedgwood items, issued under the Williamsburg mark.
Josiah not only supported the revolution but greatly admired Benjamin Franklin. He fashioned a ceramic medallion with Franklin's likeness on it to honor his friend. And he shared Franklin's views on political liberty.
With Franklin's encouragement, Wedgwood produced a unique ``Slave Medallion'' in 1787. It depicted a kneeling black man in chains with the words ``Am I Not A Man And A Brother'' surrounding the slave's body. Franklin owned one of the medallions, all produced at Josiah's expense.
As part of the Wedgwood bicentennial celebration, a third of the 934-piece ``Frog'' service, commissioned by Catherine the Great of Russia, was recently displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in England. Produced in 1774, each item was embellished with an English scene and a frog (because the empress lived in a place called ``The Froggery'').
British visitors flocked to the exhibit because quite a few of the structures depicted on the plates, saucers and bowls no longer existed. And because of the service's extremely high quality - typical of Wedgwood.
Colonial Williamsburg is offering a ceramic lecture series through Oct. 24 at the Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery. Phone (804) 220-7526 or 220-7984. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo of Wedgwood china piece
by CNB