POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Earthenware vase

Object No. 92/904

This well documented vase* is a tour-de-force of ceramic production from Wedgwood, one of England's leading factories in the late1800s. Modelled and painted with unique scenes by some of the best ceramic artists available at the time, the vase was selected for Wedgwood's spectacular displays in at least three international exhibitions: in Paris in 1878, in Sydney in 1879 and in Melbourne in 1880. Before he worked for Wedgwood, the vase's painter, John Holloway, worked at the Minton ceramic factory and his Minton works were also displayed in the 1862 London international exhibition. While not all sources of the maritime scenes decorating the vase are known, Holloway based one scene on an engraving 'The Ramsgate life-boat: morning after a heavy gale - weather moderating' by Edward William Cooke (1811-1880). It was published in the Illustrated London News (16 April 1864) and later sold as an engraving to raise money for the first non-sinkable lifeboat. It shows the North Goodwin lightship and a Ramsgate pilot vessel. The lifeboat has not been included in the vase painting. Eight examples of the Swan vase are known to have survived - five are in museums, including one in the Art Gallery of South Australia (painted with portraits) and a pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Only three examples have handpainted scenes and all three were based on different themes. Only this vase, which stands 1.3 meters tall, is believed to have been displayed by Wedgwood in Australian international exhibitions. The vase is part of a significant story of Australia's place in the world as an emerging nation in the late 19th century. Not satisfied with being only a contributor to the great international expos in Europe and North America, Australian colonies began to organise their own beginning with the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879. 22 countries exhibited but only a small proportion of what was sent to Australia and displayed in the purpose-built Garden Palace survives today; this vase is a striking example. This museum and its first collection grew from the Sydney exhibition but a major fire in 1882 destroyed both almost completely. One reason that this vase was not acquired by the museum, and therefore not destroyed by fire, must be that it was also destined for the Melbourne international exhibition of 1880-81. Exhibited in two international exhibitions in Australia, the vase highlights the importance of the Australian market to Wedgwood at the time. It also provides links with other Wedgwood objects made for, or inspired by colonial Australia such as the 1789 Sydney Cove Medallions and the 'Australian Flora' dinner services of the late 1800s. *Photographs survive in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, showing the vase in the two Australian exhibitions. A complete costing for production of the vase and an invoice for the Sydney exhibition remain in the Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston, England. Eva Czernis-Ryl, 2011