Black basalt is a hard, fine-grained black stoneware developed in Staffordshire in the eighteenth century and perfected by Josiah Wedgwood around 1768. Wedgwood called it black basaltes, and its dense, unglazed body could be polished, engraved or engine-turned to a smooth, stone-like finish.
The ware suited the Neoclassical taste perfectly, as it allowed potters to imitate antique bronzes and the black-figure vases then being discovered in Italy. Wedgwood made busts of poets and statesmen, portrait medallions, library figures, vases, candlesticks and tea wares in black basalt, and some vases were painted with red encaustic decoration in the manner of Greek pottery. Other potters, including Turner, Neale, Palmer and Spode, also made fine basalt wares, and production continued well into the nineteenth century and beyond. Collectors look for crispness of moulding, clear impressed marks, an even surface with a slight sheen and freedom from chips to finials, spouts and handles. Black basalt sits handsomely in libraries and studies, where its sober colour and classical forms complement mahogany furniture and leather-bound books.
