Wedgwood | Jasperware | Footed Bowl | Light Blue | Putti and Classical Figures in Bas-Relief | England | Mid-Twentieth Century

The same vocabulary Wedgwood established in the eighteenth century, still being spoken fluently two hundred years later.

Wedgwood Jasperware is among the most enduring and recognisable ceramic bodies in English manufacture. Developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the early 1770s after extensive experimentation, it is an unglazed stoneware coloured throughout the body and decorated with applied white reliefs derived from classical antiquity. The pale blue ground — known as Wedgwood Blue — became the defining colour of the range and has remained in continuous production ever since. These reliefs, inspired by Greek and Roman sources, established Jasperware’s enduring neoclassical identity. The impressed mark reads “Wedgwood England” with shape number 1956 and additional potter’s marks, dating this piece to mid-twentieth century production.

This small footed bowl is of rounded hemispherical form raised on a stepped circular foot. The exterior is decorated with three applied white bas-relief panels, each depicting a different classical scene: a lion-drawn chariot guided by winged putti with an attendant figure; a frieze of dancing children; and a group of putti at play. Between the panels, applied foliate sprays of acanthus and floral form provide visual continuity around the body. The interior is finished in glazed Wedgwood Blue, contrasting with the matte exterior relief, while the foot remains unglazed in the characteristic Jasper body.

The bowl is in very good condition. The reliefs remain crisp and well-defined, with the chariot and putti-at-play panels fully intact. In the dancing children panel, one figure shows a loss to the head, visible on close inspection, while the remainder of the decoration is complete. The blue ground is clean and even, with no scratching or staining noted.

Key Details

• Maker: Wedgwood
• Body: Jasperware
• Ground colour: Light blue (Wedgwood Blue)
• Decoration: Applied white bas-relief putti and classical figures; foliate sprays
• Interior: Glazed blue
• Form: Footed bowl
• Diameter: 7 cm
• Height: 4.6 cm
• Weight: 100 g
• Backstamp: Impressed — Wedgwood England, shape number 1956, with additional potter’s marks
• Period: Mid-twentieth century
• Condition: Very good; loss to head of one figure in dancing children panel

Three panels, three scenes — putti at play, at the reins, at rest — which is more or less the full range of what classical decoration ever asked of them.