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- Titles "Frog Service" Plate (Descriptive)
- Artist Wedgwood, England, est. 1759
- Medium lead-glazed earthenware (creamware) with sepia and green enamel
- Dimensions 7/8 x 9 3/4 in. Diam. (2.2 x 24.8 cm)
- Credit Line Gift of Mrs. Byron Born in honor of Mr. Byron Born, 1986.638
- Work Type plate
- Classification Containers
- On View
- Signature Unsigned
- Marks On underside in sepia enamel: 30 Exhibition sticker with "Josiah Wedgwood Jubilee Exhibition 1980 No. 4.13 1st Bank of the U.S." paper labels with "Goucestershire" and "St. BRIAVELS" as well as a paper cutout of the plate glued onto the back two other white stickers
- Inscription None
- Provenance Wedgwood (est. 1759), Stoke-on-Trent, England, 1773-1774. Probably given to Alexander Baxter (dates unknown), London, England, around 1774 [see note 1]. Found by George Henry Stoner (1870-1920) and Mr. Evans (no further information known), London, England, about 1909 [see note 2]; sold in December 1909 to John Langley (dates unknown), Exmouth, Devon, England for 28GBP [see note 3]. Mrs. D. Alcock, UK; sold Sotheby & Co., London, England, October 7, 1968 (English Pottery and Porcelain, property of Mrs. D. Alcock), lot 195; purchased at auction by dealer David Newbon, London, England for 900GBP; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Byron A. Born, Ho-ho-kus, New Jersey; gift to the Birmingham Museum of Art in 1986
1. Alexander Baxter was Catherine the Great’s intermediary in London and a Scottish member of the Russia Company. In the 1770s Baxter was the Russian consul general in England. He facilitated Catherine's order of the Frog Service from Wedgwood. In 1774, Wedgwood wrote to his partner Thomas Bentley saying that the pieces set aside from the original service should be divided between Etruria and Alexander Baxter (June 1774 letter from Wedgwood to Bentley).
2. George Henry Stoner was partner with Mr. Evans in the firm Stoner & Evans Fine Art Galleries (operated 1902-about 1939) in London, England. He discovered a batch of pieces from the Frog Service around 1909 - which may have originally stemmed from a group of rejected or omitted pieces given to Alexander Baxter in the late 18th century - and subsequently sold them.
3. See laminated receipt in object file.