VASES, TABLETS, ETC. 337 



relief ornaments," &c., which I have already described. Of 

 this species of vase a large number of forms, chiefly Grecian 

 or Etruscan, were produced, and at prices at which it would 

 make a collector's heart glad to meet with them now. The 

 sizes were " from three or four inches high to more than two 

 feet, the prices from 7s. 6d. a piece to three or four guineas, 

 exclusive of the very large ones, and those which consist of 

 several parts. The sets of five, for chimney-pieces, are from 

 two guineas to six or eight guineas a set." While speaking 

 of the productions in this class, it may be well to note 

 one use to which these black basaltes vases were put, which 

 will probably be unknown to my readers. It is that they 

 were used for monumental purposes. At Ashley Church, 

 for instance, in 1770, a monument to William Viscount 

 Chetwynd was erected, " the top part of which is a niche 

 with a circular head, and within it is placed a large Egyp- 

 tian black urn, which was made at Etruria in the time of the 

 late Josiah Wedgwood." 



CLASS SEVENTEEN was composed of vases, pateras, tablets, 

 &c., with encaustic paintings, Etruscan and Grecian. Of 

 these vases I have already spoken, and it is therefore only 

 necessary here to say that they were produced of various 

 sizes, from six inches up to twenty inches in height, at 

 prices varying from one to ten or twelve guineas each. 

 Tablets for chimney-pieces, for cabinets, and for inlaying, 

 were also enriched in the same manner as the vases, with 

 encaustic painting, and produced an admirable and striking 

 effect. They were made of every size, from that suitable for 

 a bracelet to eighteen or twenty inches in diameter, " Some 

 have been made," writes Wedgwood, " for that excellent 

 artist, Mr. Stubbs,* so large as thirty-six inches ; and his 



* Stubbs, the famous painter of horses, &c., was employed to a con- 

 siderable extent by Mr. Wedgwood in designing and decorating j and a 

 large painting by him a family group, representing Josiah Wedgwood and 

 Mrs. Wedgwood seated under a tree in the grounds of Etruria, with their 

 family, some on horseback, and others grouped with a child's carriage, 

 with Woolstanton Church, &c., in the distance hangs in the dining- 

 room at Barlaston. 



