A matched pair of large Victorian Wedgwood centerpiece bowls in the Neoclassical taste. Around each broad rim, a procession of ram's-head masks with trailing ribbons supports deep chocolate-brown swags of fruit and flowers, while a laurel wreath encircles the well and a twisted rope border finishes the edge. The dark relief stands out crisply against the soft cream glaze, giving the high-contrast look of a jasperware design on a much grander scale.
Ram's heads and festoons are the signature vocabulary of Robert Adam's interiors and of Wedgwood's earliest neoclassical designs, revived here on a generous Victorian scale. At fourteen and a half inches across, the pair anchors a dining table, a pair of consoles or opposite ends of a mantel. Found in Belgium.
Details
Glazed creamware with applied brown-glazed relief decoration
Ram's-head masks with ribbons, fruit and flower swags, laurel wreath, rope-twist rim
Impressed WEDGWOOD mark with date code for September 1860 or 1886 (no ENGLAND mark, so before 1891)
English, Victorian
Sold as a matched pair
Approximate Measurements
Each 14.5" diameter x 3.25" high
Condition
Overall fine crazing to the glaze, as expected with creamware of this age
Scattered small dark kiln specks in the glaze, from the original firing
No chips seen; relief and rims in good antique condition
