Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803)

Renowned potter Josiah Wedgwood was not only a master artisan, but a transformative innovator in 18th-century craft, production, and science. Born into a family of potters, Wedgwood developed his own new clay bodies, such as the well-known pastel-colored jasperware above and the black basalt in the adjacent case. One of the medallions seen here is displayed to feature its back, which is inscribed with notes recording the process used to achieve the specific color of the jasperware body. Many of the jasperware works seen here are from Wedgwood’s “Illustrious Moderns” series, which modeled political and other famous figures of the day in the form of ancient cameos so that one could collect and display their likenesses in their homes. Harnessing the interest in the ancient world during the second half of the 18th century, Wedgwood made and named works that would appeal to connoisseurs of antiquities. [1943.1239, 1943.1195, 1943.1201, 1943.1191, 1943.1182]