8. Copy of the Portland Vase by Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood was a major force in Britain’s industrial revolution. As a potter, he developed new wares with scientific rigour. As a businessman, he understood the growing middle-class market and found novel ways of manufacturing, transporting and promoting his products.
Most of Wedgwood’s wares were made for mass production and domestic use. This is different in that it is an ambitious attempt to copy the famous ‘Portland Vase’, made in Rome around 40–30 BC.
The original vase was glass rather than ceramic. Wedgwood spent three years trying to get the right effect in a fine-grained stoneware. When in 1790 he finally succeeded, he exhibited this ‘First Edition’ copy in London, selling admission tickets in advance.
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