WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY BLACK BASALT LIBRARY BUST OF CATO THE YOUNGER

WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY BLACK BASALT LIBRARY BUST OF CATO THE YOUNGER circa 1775, impressed Wedgwood & Bentley mark and titled CATO at the back, and Wedgwood & Bentley to the socle, with head slightly turned to the left, truncated at the shoulder, mounted on a waisted circular socle, h: 19 1/2 in.

Provenance: Mr. & Mrs. Z. Brodkiewitz Collection.
Brown Collection, no. 171 (label).
With Lindsay Grigsby Antiques, Chadds Ford, PA, 2007 (labels).
Jeffrey Milkins Collection, no. 462.

Catalogue Note:
Cato the Younger, Marcus Porcius Cato, (95 BC â April 46 BC) was a military commander and conservative Roman senator. He was a follower of the Stoic philosophy and consistently stood against Julius Caesar.

In 1774, Josiah Wedgwood obtained a plaster bust of this subject from the firm of Hoskins and Grant of London. The black basalt model was refined by chief modeler, William Hackwood. For a similar example, see Skinner, Boston, sale 2554B, 9 July 2011, lot 105.

Exhibitions: Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, â Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood and His Contemporariesâ ,
9 February 2020 â 3 January 2021, no. 61.

Literature: Brian Gallagher, â Classic Blackâ op. cit., exhibition catalogue, p. 179, no. 61.