WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT RECTANGULAR PLAQUE 'DEATH OF A ROMAN WARRIOR'

WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT RECTANGULAR PLAQUE 'DEATH OF A ROMAN WARRIOR' 19th Century, impressed uppercase mark, molded in high relief with a detailed frieze of a fallen soldier, Meleager, being borne by Roman warriors and a retinue of attendant figures, h: 11 x w: 20 in., within a velvet and wood frame

Provenance: With Seal Simons, Philadelphia, PA
Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1986, lot 123.
Jeffrey Milkins Collection, no. 89.

Catalogue Note:
This rare and iconic subject first appears at Wedgwood in the factory catalogue of 1773. For a discussion on its composition, See Dr. Carol Macht, 'Classical Wedgwood Designs'. Here the author identifies at least three classical works that were combined and modified to produce this composition, including a sarcophagus now in the Stanza dei Filosofi of the Capitoline Museum, Rome, a Hadrianic relief published by P.S. Bartoli in 'Admiranda romanarum antiquitatum...' and a detail of the Ara Pacis, Rome. For a similar example from the Jeanne Zorensky Collection of British Ceramics, see Bonhams, Oxford, 19 March 2013, lot 10.