Patch or tooth-pick box

Object NamePatch or tooth-pick box

Artist / Maker Josiah Wedgwood (English, 1730 - 1795)

Manufacturer Wedgwood (English (Stoke-on-Trent, England), founded 1759)

Date1790

OriginGreat Britain

MediumJasperware cameo on ivory box

Dimensions1/2 × 3 1/8 × 1 in. (1.3 × 7.9 × 2.5 cm)

ClassificationsDecorative Arts, Ceramics

Credit LineGift of Ann and Henry Brunnier. In the Ann and Henry Brunnier Collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object number2.8.109

Status

Not on view

Collections

Decorative Arts

CultureEnglish

Label TextMuch of the ornamentation used by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was done in association with friend and partner, Thomas Bentley (1730-1781). The two became partners in 1767, and in 1769 Bentley agreed to take control of Wedgwood's business ventures in London. That same year business expanded with the opening of the Chelsea decoration studio. The first ornamental wares catalog was offered in 1773 and included cameos, medallions, lamps, busts, and figurines. Both men had a taste for classical arts and this was reflected in their collaborative work. When Bentley died in 1781, Wedgewood suffered a tremendous professional and personal loss. However, the two men had established a neoclassical style that outlived their successful partnership. The frolicking putti and cherubs adorning this small cameo inset are frequent motifs in Wedgwood's ornamental work. Small plaques like this one were marketed as buckle, jewelry and box-top insets, particularly patch boxes. In accordance with eighteenth-century fashion, patches (small pieces of silk or court plaster) were worn by women on the face or neck to enhance features or cover imperfections. A typical use for a patch was to conceal facial scarring caused by smallpox.

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