One of the celebrated six black basalt First Day’s Vases personally thrown by Josiah to mark the opening of the Etruria factory, dated June 1769, which is among the treasures of the Wedgwood Collection.
As covered previously in ATG, the collection - a record of 250 years of British ceramics - had been under threat following the collapse of Waterford Wedgwood in 2009 and the pension debt wrangle that resulted.
The Art Fund's appeal to save the collection reached its target in October last year as more than 7500 donors made up the shortfall on the £15.75m. That has prevented what is dubbed 'one of the most important industrial archives in the world' from being split up and sold off.
The V&A has taken guardianship of the collection to ensure it can never be put at risk again and the collection is on permanent loan. It can be viewed once more in situ at the Wedgwood museum in Barlaston, near Stoke, as part of the World of Wedgwood site.
