Great vase, crazy story

 

Exactly two hundred and thirty-one years ago, a reproduction of the 'Portland Vase' (an object made in Rome in the first century) went on show in London.  It was such a popular event that tickets had to be sold to restrict the flow of visitors.

The original vase (see pic above) is made of glass. However, strangely, a glass copy of it would have been impossible in the eighteenth century, so the reproduction, made by Josiah Wedgwood at his factory in North Staffordshire, is a pottery version - 'jasperware'. 

In Staffordshire we know Josiah's copy very well, because it was his crowning achievement, which took him four years to perfect.    It is vibrantly yet delicately beautiful; there is no doubt of that.  You can still see one of Josiah's versions at the V&A Museum.

By the way, the story of the original vase would make a great film - full of crazy people, obsessed people and shocking moments.  It must be made!

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Swapping a crab for a ram

The old Wedgwood Institute in Burslem is a lovely building, built in the Venetian Gothic style.
As you can see, it has an ornate frieze around its top depicting the astrological signs of the zodiac named with their corresponding months and a scene referring to the sign.

But... the makers got muddled up.
As you can see in centre of the the photo, the roundel at the top depicts Cancer The Crab (June 22 to July 22), the month says June, but, er, the scene depicts a man holding down a ram (March, Aries!). 
Where is the usual scene for Cancer, a woman collecting crabs?  Yep, you guessed it: over where the ram should have been.
Somebody clearly wasn’t concentrating.

Wedgwood himself seems unbothered though.