Compote Dishes

Wedgwood

  • Titles Compote Dishes (Descriptive)
  • Artist Wedgwood, England, est. 1759
  • Medium pearlware
  • Dimensions each: 2 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 6 3/8 in. (6.4 x 28.6 x 16.2 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; The Buten Wedgwood Collection, gift through the Wedgwood Society of New York, AFI.743.2011.1-.2
  • Work Type dishes
  • Classification Containers

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Lozenge-shaped, two-handled tray of soft-paste porcelain painted with overglaze enamel colors in shades of blue, yellow, lilac and green, the pierced sides decorated with an intricate pattern of ribbons and tulips, the center with geometric diaper motifs (four gilded star and dot pattern, four floral, diamond pattern) within gilt scrollwork and berried foliage borders on white ground, the reverse of the rim and handles heightened in blue
Round blue jasper medallion with thick white relief of Cupid stringing his bow, modeller unknown
Small silver tea caddy spoon, the bowl shell-shaped and the handle slightly curved and decorated with bright cut engraving in a pattern of dots and swags, with an oval reserve at the tip designed for a monogram (left empty).
Oval blue jasper medallion with white relief profile portrait of Thomas Bentley (1730-1780) Liverpool merchant and business partner of Josiah Wedgwood in the manufacture and experiment of Ornamental ware.Born at Scropton, Derbyshire. Bentley was introduced to Josiah Wedgwood by Dr. Matthew Turner when Josiah was bedridden in Liverpool in 1762. They seem to have been on terns of friendship from the first. Bentley was, at this time, in partnership with Samuel Boardman of Liverpool, a general merchant, and the firm became Wedgwood’s agent.Bentley agreed to become Wedgwood’s partner in 1767 for the manufacture of ornamental wares, the partnership deeds being signed in 1769, a few weeks after the opening of the Etruria factory. Bentley settled in London to take charge of the showrooms and decorating studio there, and as a man of widely ranging interests he was able to meet and influence fashionable society to a point where the showrooms became a social centre. Bentley always found difficulty in dealing with subordinates, and staffing troubles were common.Bentley was, however, essential to the design, production and sale of the ornamental wares, and Wedgwood constantly consulted him, and referred to him for approval. In 1772 Bentley married his second wife, Mary Stamford of Derby. He lived at Chelsea from 1769 to 1774. He then removed to the Greek Street showrooms, and from there, in 1777, to Turnham Green, where he remained till his death in 1780.No one ever replaced him as a friend and colleague. A very large number of Wedgwood’s surviving letters are addressed to Bentley on business and family problems, but hardly any of Bentley’s own letters have survived, so his opinions on the subjects discussed have to be deduced from what Wedgwood has to stay.