British potter and chemist Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) was one of the most successful industrialists of the eighteenth century in terms of both the quality of his products and his talent for marketing them. Wedgwood’s black stoneware—a hard ceramic that took a fine polish and was resistant to heat and acid—was suited to a variety of forms, from small tea and coffee implements to elaborate chimneypieces and fireplace surrounds. “The black is sterling, & will last for ever [sic],” he predicted in a letter to one of his business partners in 1774. However, Wedgwood saw the greatest potential in its aesthetic qualities. He recognized that its lustrous black color mimicked that of several types of ancient art and capitalized on this resemblance to produce decorative works that recalled classical Greek and Roman art, as was fashionable in his lifetime. When first introduced in 1768, Wedgwood’s blackware was called “Etruscan,” evoking the black ground of ancient Greek figure vases believed (albeit erroneously) to have been made by the Etruscan civilization. In 1773, he rebranded it “Basalt” to evoke a fine-grained, dark-colored igneous rock used in ancient Egyptian and Roman statuary. Wedgwood’s black stoneware also resembled ancient bronze with a deep patina. “Having the appearance of antique bronze . . . no substance can be better than this for busts, sphinxes, small statues, & c.,” he proclaimed in a 1773 trade catalogue.
Wedgwood’s black basalt stoneware proved especially competitive in the booming market for reproductions of classical sculpture. Bronze was still too expensive due to its limited supply, and plaster casts were too cheap to be appreciated beyond their didactic function. Able to approximate the look of ancient sculpture in both bronze and basalt, Wedgwood’s black stoneware provided a more affordable and appealing alternative. Cato is from Wedgwood’s first series of busts. His best modeler, William Hackwood, refined them from molds purchased in 1774 at Hoskins and Grant (London-based specialists in plaster reproductions of antiquities). While the marble prototype is a genuine work of ancient art, sculptor and restorer Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (c. 1716–1799) likely devised the identification of the subject as Cato the Younger to promote it for sale. Historical figures like Cato the Younger, a military commander and senator in the late Roman Republic, were considered exemplars of civic virtue for the aristocracy and ruling elites Cavaceppi sought to cultivate as patrons. The name of Cato would have appealed to Wedgwood for the same reasons.
Rosie Mills
2024