118 



THE WEDGWOODS. 



lection, among other examples, a fine " tortoiseshell plate " 

 and a small " cauliflower jug," which have passed into my 

 hands from the present aged descendant of Uriah Sutton, 

 who is named in more than one place in the document just 

 referred to as being "hired" by Whieldon. The tortoise- 

 shell ware is beautifully mottled, sometimes by the rich, 

 reddish brown colour, which belongs to the original, and at 

 other times by a fine green, or deep purplish tinge. The 

 glaze is invariably good, and the potting itself of thoroughly 

 good quality. In my own collection is a jardiniere of this 

 kind of ware, of large size, and of excellent design. In the 

 accompanying engraving are shown two of these remarkably 



TORTOISESHELL WARE. 



fine plates the centre octagonal one measuring in its largest 

 diameter fifteen and a half inches a small green " cauli- 

 flower jug," and an imitation agate knife-haft, from my own 

 collection. These are all highly characteristic examples of 

 the manufacture of this period. 



I have it from excellent authority that as early as 1745 

 when only in his fifteenth year Josiah Wedgwood had 

 begun to make a few trial articles of that improved kind of 

 ware which afterwards obtained for him the distinction of 

 " Queen's Potter," and for the ware itself that of " Queen's 

 Ware ; " and these trials and improvements he continued to 



