{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O308280"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O308280/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC1281/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC1281/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EC1281","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX7454","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O308280/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O308280","accessionNumber":"8011-1862","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"One of Wedgwood's great successes during the nineteenth century was the work decorated by the French artist Emile Lessore. Lessore had studied painting in France with the painter Ingres, and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1831-50. In the 1840s Lessore trained as a ceramic painter and worked at the French state porcelain factory, Sèvres. After the death of his wife in 1858 Lessore moved to England where he worked for Minton for a short time, but quickly became frustrated by the careful supervision of his work there. In 1860 he negotiated a contract with Wedgwood in which the factory would supply blank 'Queen's Ware' objects for him to decorate. Wedgwood then purchased the finished articles back from him. His salary was £400 in 1860.\n\nThe amphora shape of this vase is typical of the simple classical forms preferred by Lessore. His innovation was to introduce a free style of painting similar to contemporary French fine art practice. The decoration was painted freehand onto the clay, and his subject matter concentrated on figure subjects and landscapes after Watteau, as well as adaptations of paintings by such artists as Boucher, Carrachi, Gainsborough, Giorgione, Charles Le Brun, Van Loo and Van Dyck. \n\nThe Illustrated London News, Vol. XLI, p.389 (1862) describes Lessore's work and this vase as such, \"On the various objects are wrought subjects in the most sketchy manner, just as they have birth in the mind. The artist who has produced them, Mr. Lessore, is undoubtedly a man of talent and genius, and we are told that the very first sketch which he makes of his subject, whether an original or a copy, is on the earthenware... (There) is a large vase of elongated form, the central portion of which, together with the figure after Raphael which it bears, is wrought entorely in the low-toned cold lilac of common pottery, but it has the merits of handwork and not the mechanical character of a printed figure\".\n\nThe vase was bought by the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) from the International Exhibition in London in 1862, for £25 4s. It aroused particular interest because it clearly demonstrated the role an artist could play in the manufacturing industry.","physicalDescription":"Amphora shaped vase with two handles, pale blue ground painted with classical figures, orange and green handles. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lessore, Emile Aubert","id":"A12978"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Wedgwood","id":"A1450"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"earthenware","id":"x29356"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},{"text":"glazed","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Earthenware, painted and glazed","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Vases","id":"THES48879"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2010EC1281","2019LX7454"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139 (VA)","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"33","shelf":"8","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Vase","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Stoke on Trent","id":"x29185"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1862","earliest":"1857-01-01","latest":"1866-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"68.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"23.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions converted from the register.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from the International Exhibition, 1862.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Vase, earthenware, painted and glazed, with classical figures, decorated by Emile Lessore, made by Wedgwood, Staffordshire, England, about 1862","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["8011-1862"],"accessionNumberNum":"8011","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1862,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-30","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}