CURRENT WEDGWOOD EXHIBIT IN RUSSIA

There is currently a great exhibition of Wedgwood wares on display in Russia! I highly recommend visiting this site, even if for no other reason than the photos of the Wedgwood are gorgeous! The URL takes one to a video, worth the few moments it will take to watch!
http://uatoday.tv/entertainment/large-collection-of-wedgwood-porcelain-on-display-in-moscow-392382.html Of course the title of the article is incorrect, it is not "porcelain" on display, but check it out, you'll see what it is! ENJOY!  We'd love to hear from you if you are lucky enough to go to Russia to see this exhibit, we'd love to have a report from you to post for others.

LADY LEVER ART GALLERY PORT SUNLIGHT GARNERS NEW FUNDS

News of the recent award of Heritage Lottery Funds to the Lady Lever Gallery at Port Sunlight in Liverpool is most welcome to those of us who have had the privilege of visiting that wonderful gallery.  The article says it's the world's greatest collection of jasperware, which surprised me.  I can't dispute it because I do not know that statistic, but I believe other repositories likely have equally extensive collections of jasperware.  The most outstanding memory I have from my visit there were the very large oval Queensware plaques hand painted by George Stubbs.  They grace the walls of one of the galleries and it was amazing to stand in front of them and take in the beauty of Stubbs' incredible ability to portray the majestic horses.  The other amazing thing is that I am probably the only Beatles fan who went to Liverpool and saw NO Beatles sites!!!
Enjoy this article and the photos!

MARTHA STEWART, WEDGWOOD AND FROGS - WHAT A COMBO

In 2009 Alexis Antiques lent Piers, Lord Wedgwood and Martha Stewart the Catherine Ice Pail in the Wedgwood Frog Service reproduction set for her show celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Wedgwood company.  Just today, through the Wedgwood Society of New South Wales, we learned the URL of the episode on which our ice pail appeared.  
If you click here you will see [this link will not work, please read below] some icons at the bottom, go to the second one from the left, the picture of the dark blue vase with the words Wedgwood Pottery underneath, click that and watch.  Martha talks about a gorgeous epergne which was in the 250th anniversary exhibit but then you will see the segment with her and Piers discussing Wedgwood, and you'll see the ice pail.   We purchased it from the Wedgwood folks in Australia, it came to us in St. Louis, went to NY and came back, then was sold to a collector in Australia, so it's had a long journey from the Wedgwood factory at Barlaston, Stoke on Trent!!!  They are rare, this one is #14 of a worldwide limited edition of 50.  The scene illustrated is Caerlaverock Castle & Falls, Blair Castle, Scotland.

www.marthastewart.com/998142/wedgwood-dish-patterns#998139

No matter what I do the link above will not take one to the video but you can copy and paste this URL into your browser and get it.  I can get to it easily this way, but for some reason the "If you click here you will see" link  at the beginning of this post simply will not work!

RARE STATUE OF JUPITER OR ZEUS BY WEDGWOOD - ON DISPLAY SOON

From one of our favorite UK publications, The Stoke Sentinel, comes an interesting article today about this statue which is very rare and beautiful.  Having visited The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, I am always amazed at their holdings, not just the Wedgwood of course, but the huge variety of ceramics in their holdings.  No trip to the Potteries should fail to include this Museum in Hanley, and if you are headed to the UK, later this month will be the time to visit The Potteries Museum.  See the article with lots of information about this gorgeous rendition of Jupiter, aka Zeus.  If any of our readers have one of these statues, we'd love to hear about it!  Send us an email!

ANOTHER REPORT ON WEDGWOOD MUSEUM SITUATION

Here is a good article from The Sentinel, one of my favorite UK publications, which explains the involvement of WWRD in the past and current situation surrounding the Wedwood Museum Trust.  It is self-explanatory and succinct.  Hope you enjoy catching up with the current status.

WEDGWOOD MUSEUM TRUST BACK IN THE NEWS - DONATIONS IMPORTANT

From the UK Telegraph comes one of the better articles I have seen in the past week or so about the new push to finish up raising the remainder of the funds needed to secure the future of the Museum treasures.  Check it out here, and make note of the beautiful illustrations.  At the end of the article is a link to a fund-raising site to help with the raising of the money. Thanks to my friend in England, Mary Beardmore, for sharing this link

with me.

Liverpool means many different things! Wedgwood and Beatles!

The Lady Lever Museum in Liverpool holds a fabulous collection of Wedgwood, Stubbs paintings and much else of beauty and quality.  AND it's in Liverpool!  SO this aging Beatles fan goes to Liverpool a few years ago and sees NOT a SINGLE Beatles site....but the Wedgwood and Stubbs at the Museum might just have made it all worthwhile.  If you have a chance, be sure to see the Museum's holdings, you won't be disappointed.  On the other hand, if you can see some Beatles sites too, it might be the trip of a lifetime!  You can go here to explore the Museum, and I bet anyone can find plenty of places to go to find the Beatles!  Robin Emmerson is a charming gentleman, his lecture on Weds. is sure to be a great one!

Lever's Wedgwood at Lady Lever Art Gallery - Wednesday September 3, 6-7.30pm, FREE

Take a trip to the idyllic setting of Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight - home to one of the world's great Wedgwood collections.
On Wednesday, internationally-renowned Wedgwood expert Robin Emmerson will be holding a free talk revealing the secrets behind William Hesketh Lever's astonishing collection.
Visitors can also enjoy a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink on arrival at 6pm.

Metropolitan Museum of Art holds interesting Wedgwood source documents

THIS LINK will lead our readers to an interesting drawing by John Flaxman, a source document for a Wedgwood tile decoration.  Click on the two links below the main display (object information) to see further information.  This drawing was donated in 1961 to The Met.  A shame that it wasn't donated to the Wedgwood Museum, as that would be the best place for source documents of Wedgwood designs to accumulate in this student's opinion, however, we all know donors can donate where they wish.  Unfortunately the person who annotated the drawing was afflicted with that stubborn, seemingly incurable disease we call "can't-read-or-spell-itis" - 'Wedgwood' contains that dratted incorrect, annoying extra E!  The RELATED OBJECTS tab will show the reader several more similar tiles after John Flaxman.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to see the fireplace around which these tiles resided????

BEAUTIFUL VIDEO SPANS THE CAREER OF PIERS, LORD WEDGWOOD OF BARLASTON

Presented by Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, this video was created upon the occasion of their Memorial Service for Lord Wedgwood.  Enjoy the beautiful photos... Piers loved bright, but elegant clothing, and had a wonderful sense of humor...his beautiful smile accompanies many images of his life of service to his family and family's historic company.  Enjoy the video!

UK SPCA BADGE OF OFFICE SURFACES at WEDGWOOD, BARLASTON

 

Staffordshire Parish Councils Association

             

    Established in 1939 just before the outbreak of war, the SPCA is believed to be the senior County Association of Local Councils in England.  The aim was to be a source of up-to-date information for Parish Councils and Town Councils to promote good local government and grassroots democracy.  It also provided a network of communication and lobbied on behalf of Parish Councils to represent their interests and offered free legal and financial advice.

   In 1998, a decision was made to commission two badges of office from Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, one each for the President and Chairman.  The badges, in Teal Green Jasper, feature a modified logo with the letters SPCA replaced on the scroll with the office-holder's title in gold.  The example illustrated is the President's badge of office and was discovered at Barlaston during an office clear out.  Further enquiries established that the office-holders are in possession of their badges and that this badge is a duplicate, either made as an insurance against accidents in firing or, possibly, not meeting the required standard (it has a minute chip on the reverse edge).  Whatever the reason, it was put away and its existence forgotten until now.

  With thanks to Mr Andrew McRae, CEO of the SPCA, for kindly providing information.

 

Thank you to Lord Anthony Pulford of Glencoe, Scotland for the research on this interesting Wedgwood item, and for allowing us to publish it here!