Jasperware

[3] After several years of experiments, Wedgwood began to sell jasperware in the late 1770s, at first as small objects, but from the 1780s adding large vases.

High-quality portraits, mostly in profile, of leading personalities of the day were a popular type of object, matching the fashion for paper-cut silhouettes.

[5] Named after the mineral jasper for marketing reasons, the exact Wedgwood formula remains confidential, but analyses indicate that barium sulphate is a key ingredient.

Barium sulphate ("cawk" or "heavy-spar") was a fluxing agent and obtainable as a by-product of lead mining in nearby Derbyshire.

Sir William Hamilton's collection of ancient Greek vases was an important influence on Flaxman's work.

[17] Inspiration for Flaxman and Wedgwood came not only from ancient ceramics, but also from cameo glass, particularly the Portland Vase which was brought to England by Hamilton by 1784.

Wedgwood devoted four years of painstaking attempts at duplicating the vase in black and white jasperware, which was finally completed in 1790, the figures perhaps modelled by William Hackwood.

Wedgwood's careful copies proved extremely useful when the vase was smashed in the British Museum in 1845, and then reconstructed by the restorer John Doubleday.

[20] The Real Fabrica del Buen Retiro in Madrid produced jasperware effects in biscuit porcelain.

At the end of the 18th century, they made jasperware plaques for a "porcelain room" in the Casita del Príncipe at the Escorial.

[21] In the late 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Stahl developed his own style and techniques during his work at Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach, Saar, Germany.

A stand at the World's Fair 1900 in Paris was the first major public presentation of his work and gained him a gold medal.