Medallion

Art Historical Context

Step into the refined world of 18th-century British ceramics with Josiah Wedgwood's *Medallion*, a petite masterpiece measuring just 2¾ × 2¼ inches. Crafted from black basalt ware—an unglazed, matte stoneware that mimics the dark luster of ancient volcanic rock—this profile portrait of a man exemplifies Wedgwood's mastery in capturing dignified male visages. Produced in his famed Etruria factory in, England, it reflects the era's neoclassical passion for classical antiquity, where small-scale reliefs like this adorned homes as elegant decorative objects. Wedgwood, a pioneering potter often ca...

About the Artist

Josiah Wedgwood · 1730–1795

Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, the thirteenth child of a potter whose family had worked in the craft since the seventeenth century. Apprenticed to his elder brother Thomas following their father's death, he went on to a partnership with Thomas Whieldon of Fenton — the most respected potter in England at the time — which gave him command of all the principal techniq...