{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1254538"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1254538/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1254538","accessionNumber":"LOAN:CERANON.2-2012","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"A purely decorative vase, one that would have been displayed in a domestic interior, possibly on a mantelpiece, where it might have been set out with others.\n\r\nDesign &amp; Designing \r\nWedgwood's move into vase production coincided with the fashionable world taking up the vase as a symbol of the new 'antique' style. The demand for 'antique' vases was so great that, in addition to copying surviving Classical antiquities, manufacturers copied designs from prints of the 17th and 18th centuries.  This vase whose shape derives from classical Greek pottery, is decorated with 'The Dancing Hours', personifications of the hours of the day, a design which also derives from Antiquity.  It is thought that John Flaxman junior (1755-1826), the talented young sculptor who worked for Wedgwood, adapted the design from a print by Bartoli of 1693 published in 1722.  This decoration of elegant classical ladies dancing in different poses proved to be very popular and was used by Wedgwood on various kinds of pottery, including plaques for chimeypieces and teapots.\n\r\nMaterials &amp; Making \r\nThe vase is made of Black Basalt, one of several types of pottery that Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) introduced or refined. The black colour came from 'Carr', an oxide of iron suspended in water that had flowed through coal seams and mines.","physicalDescription":"Vase of black basalt of calyx-crater shape, the body with The Dancing Hours in relief, the lower section of the vase gadrooned with loop handles, a border of stylised leaves around the foot and lip, a further border of fruiting vines under the lip, the foot set on a square plinth with moulded ornament, the two sections secured by a rod and bolt.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"john flaxman","id":"A1284"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":"Flaxman was probably responsible for 'The Dancing Hours' relief design."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Josiah Wedgwood and Sons","id":"A1450"},"association":{"text":"manufacturers","id":"AAT25230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"stoneware","id":"x30197"},{"text":"black basalt","id":"x30176"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulded","id":"x30076"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Stoneware","id":"THES48890"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"}],"styles":[{"text":"neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"none","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"138","id":"THES49875"},"free":"","case":"K","shelf":"2","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Urn","id":"AAT129425"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Etruria","id":"x33200"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1778-80","earliest":"1778-01-01","latest":"1780-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Private Collection","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"cover is missing","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY ETRURIA'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"mark impressed in relief on a circular band to underside of plinth"}],"objectHistory":"According to Aileen Dawson  (see below), the 'Dancing Hours' motif was first modelled by John Flaxman ca. 1778.  It was probably taken from a print by Pietro Santi Bartoli of 1693, published by Montfaucon in his 'L'Antiquité Expliquée', a copy of which was owned by Wedwood.  It 'comes originally from a late Greek relief of the first or second century BC formerly in the Villla Borghese, Rome, and now in the Louvre, Paris.'","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A calyx-crater vase in black basalt with The Dancing Hours and two handles by Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire, ca. 1778-80.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dawson, Aileen, <u>Masterpieces of Wedgwood in the British Museum</u>, British Museum Publications Ltd., 1984, pp.58-59, fig. 46 for a jasperware salt cellar with 'The Dancing Hours' motif."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Montfaucon, Bernard de,<u> <i>L'Antiquité Expliquée et Représentée en Figures</i></u>, Paris, 1719-24, vol. III, part 2, plate 173"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"dance","id":"AAT54144"},{"text":"mythology","id":"AAT55985"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:CERANON.2-2012"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:CERANON","accessionYear":2012,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-02","recordCreationDate":"2012-09-12","availableToBook":false}}