WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT â ENCAUSTIC-DECORATEDâ TWO-HANDLED VASE AND A COVER

WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT â ENCAUSTIC-DECORATEDâ TWO-HANDLED VASE AND A COVER circa 1780-1790, pseudo-impressed uppercase mark, after the Antique Lebes Gamikos and of â First Dayâ vase form, the later replacement cylindrical cover with baluster finial, flanked by upright wishbone handles, the shoulder enameled in iron-red, sepia and white with a broad band of anthemion, above a frieze of â Demeter in the House of Keleosâ with Eros, a male youth and female attendants, above a band of key pattern, on a circular foot, h: 14 3/8 in.

Provenance: The Milton Milestone Collection (without cover).
Sothebyâ s, Parke Bernet Inc., New York, Part II, 6 April 1976, lot 225 (label).
Jeffrey Milkins Collection, no. 468.

Catalogue Note:
The â encaustic decorationâ on the present piece was inspired by a pelike from the collection of Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803). Unlike most of the pieces collected by Hamilton, which were sourced in Italy, the present vase is based on the decoration found on a 370 BC Attica pelike recovered from the Greek isle of Chios in 1761. The decoration closely references an engraved colored plate from Pierre-François Hugues d'Hancarville (ed.), â The Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honorable William Hamiltonâ , 1766, Vol. I, pl. 71.

For another with the same type mark, see The Oster Collection, Sothebyâ s, 6 May 1972, lot 408. For an example with its cover see, Geoffrey A. Godden, â An Illustrated Encyclopedia of British Pottery and Porcelainâ , p. 343, pl. 602. For an example of the iconic â First Dayâ vases created by Wedgwood in 1769, see W.B. Honey, fig. 50.