Five curved panels of Wedgwood's famed cream colored earthenware--daringly pierced in a la...

Five curved panels of Wedgwood's famed cream colored earthenware--daringly pierced in a lattice-work pattern--rise from a relief-covered foot and base to form a graceful flaring trumpet vase. The vertical joins of the panels are disguised by columns of laurel leaves and berries on both the exterior and interior of the vase, making it clear that the vessel was not intended to hold a liner. Clearly, the piece is an exercise in ornament, not function.

Topping the vertical laurel columns are small ovals that support floral swags, elements familiar from their use on solid Wedgwood relief wares. Here they create the impression of an airy garden trellis supporting flowering vines.

The composition is finished top and bottom by a simple rope molding.

Wedgwood's "Imperial Queen's Ware" line, certainly one of the pottery's most interesting u...

Wedgwood's "Imperial Queen's Ware" line, certainly one of the pottery's most interesting uses of the creamware body in the nineteenth-century, is inevitably compared to to the basket-like designs of Belleek porcelain, which was developing about the same time. However justified these comparisons--and the assumption that Belleek inspired Wedgwood--may be, there are significant differences.

Open-work Belleek baskets are composed of string-like elements woven together in a manner not unlike earlier earthenware baskets--including Wedgwood's. The pierced panels of "Imperial Queen's Ware" are flat, resembling wooden trellis panels more than basketry. The applied relief swags are simpler than Belleek's applied florals, but effectively create a garden-like impression.

One frequent observation made about these wares cannot be disputed. Their fragility makes undamaged examples such as this vase quite rare.