Lot 895: Fine Wedgwood Black Basalt Vase and Cover, ca. 1780, after a design by Edme Bourchardon (1698-1762), the campana-form vase with handles in the form of mermen resting on a giant oyster shell, h. 12-1/4", dia. 7". Note: This model, number 11 in the

Description

Fine Wedgwood Black Basalt Vase and Cover, ca. 1780, after a design by Edme Bourchardon (1698-1762), the campana-form vase with handles in the form of mermen resting on a giant oyster shell, h. 12-1/4", dia. 7". Note: This model, number 11 in the Wedgwood Shape Book, is illustrated in Diana Edward's "Black Basalt: Wedgwood and Other Contemporary Designers" (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector's Club, 1993) page 64, figure 48, and also "The Genius of Wedgwood: A Catalogue of an Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum" (London: V&A, 1995), H. Young, ed., p. 109, plate E22. The latter also illustrates the original design by Bouchardon (plate E23), noting that Wedgwood changed the gender of the mermaid handles of the original. A similar vase is in the collection of the Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire; another is in the Beeson Collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama.