This large Wedgwood vase was made in England circa 1885 and decorated using George Marsden’s distinctive raised-slip technique.
With its broad globular body, tall flared neck, and spreading pedestal foot, the vase has an unusually bold and sculptural presence.
Large scrolling acanthus leaves cover the body in raised slips of ochre, buff, olive green, and brown.
The decoration stands physically above the surface, allowing the raised forms to catch the light against the glossy midnight-brown ground.
The scale of the leaves and the richness of the contrasting colors make this an especially decorative piece of late 19th-century Wedgwood.
A warm honey-colored glaze lines the flared rim.
George Marsden patented a mechanical process for decorating with colored slips in 1879 and offered the process to Wedgwood in 1880.
His raised-slip decoration became an important and distinctive part of Wedgwood’s Art Ware production during the 1880s.
This vase is particularly well documented.
The underside retains a label from the Richard Dennis Wedgwood Exhibition of 1982, numbered M634, as well as a handwritten label referring to page 77 of Maureen Batkin’s Wedgwood Ceramics 1846–1959: A New Appraisal, published by Richard Dennis in 1982.
The combination of its impressive scale, bold form, richly modeled raised-slip decoration, and documented exhibition and literature history makes this an especially exciting piece of Wedgwood.
Dimensions: Height 11.25 inches × diameter 9 inches
Condition: Excellent with slight wear to the inside of the top rim (see image)
Maker: Wedgwood
Designer/Technique: George Marsden
Origin: England
Date: Circa 1885
Marks: Impressed WEDGWOOD; additional impressed marks; painted S.264. The vase also retains earlier collection and auction labels.
Literature: Maureen Batkin, Wedgwood Ceramics 1846–1959: A New Appraisal, Richard Dennis, London, 1982, page 77 reference
Exhibition: Richard Dennis Wedgwood Exhibition, 1982, no. M634