English: The Discovery of Achilles, about 1788, modelled by Camillo Pacetti V&A Museum no. 4938-1901

Techniques - Jasper with green dip and applied reliefs

Artist/designer - Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd.

Place - Etruria (Stoke-on-Trent)

Dimensions - Height 15.87 cm, Width 38.42 cm

Object Type - The relief was probably intended for incorporation into a chimney-piece. According to Josiah Wedgwood, who manufactured it, such reliefs were used 'in the composition of a great variety of chimneypieces'.

Ownership & Use - Wedgwood claimed that his panels of this type could 'be seen in the houses of many of the first nobility and gentry in the kingdom.' He had high hopes that his Jasper reliefs would be taken up by Robert Adam and other leading architects of the day. However, he complained to his partner that he had failed to 'prevail upon the architects to be godfathers to our child ...'

Design & Designing -

Around 1788 Wedgwood set up a modelling studio in Rome to supply him with casts and copies of antique reliefs for copying in Jasper. This was superintended by Henry Webber, previously the head of the ornamental department at Wedgwood's factory. Webber produced little in Italy, but employed a number of Italian artists to model reliefs in wax. Among them was Camillo Pacetti (1758-1826), who was described as 'a proud imperious fellow'. Pacetti modelled this piece, copying it from a relief carved in marble on a Roman sarcophagus of the 3rd century AD.