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Right: Majolica Monkey LampBelow: Black basalt hedgehog Cabinet of curiositiesHedgehogs, monkey lamps and an elegant way to disguise a lack of pastry during the Napoleonic Wars are some of the unusualitems from the historic Wedgwood catalogue. Museum Archivist Lucy Lead gives an overview When people think of Wedgwood, they instantly picture the blue and white jasper ware which has become synonymous with the name, or perhaps of the fi ne bone china to decorate their tables. However, there are several much more unusual items on display in the Wedgwood Museum.Not only are there items from over 250 years of Wedgwood production – from the functional to the decorative, the museum also holds a vast quantity of business and family records in its archives, making it truly a unique destination for exploring the UK’s industrial heritage. Heritage Volunteers from Stafford DFAS and North Staffordshire DFAS have completed several projects.Among my favourite museum ‘oddities’ is the rather charming black basalt hedgehog, also known in one delightful factory record as ‘porcoipins for snowdrips’ [sic]. Black basalt is a fi ne-grained stoneware body developed by Josiah Wedgwood around 1768. Wedgwood was so proud that he said of it: “black is Sterling and will last forever”. The idea behind the development of the hedgehog was that when the fl owers were fi rst germinating, the green shoots would look a little like the spines, and once they had fl owered, the whiteness of the snowdrops would be set off against the black. As a rather novel bulb pot in the 18th century, it was enormously popular and appears very frequently in the oven books of the period. There was a considerable demand for new and exciting bulbs, and, advantageously for Wedgwood, a market for containers which would satisfy it. The black basalt hedgehog has long since remained a favourite, and is always a talking point for people in the Museum, especially children. As one little girl told me quite adamantly once, she thought it might have been used as a breadstick holder. Sadly no, but it remains a fantastic guess at its original use.Just a little further on in the museum is the case with the Game Pie Dishes. Originally made out of cane ware, later variations were introduced in majolica ware and were decorated with intricate designs of vine leaves, dead game, or vegetables. Although they made their fi rst appearance in 1795, they came into their own during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century. French blockades meant that there was an enormous shortage of fl our coming into the country. As a result, elaborate pastry dishes became unfeasible, however Wedgwood was able to offer an alternative. Inside the Game Pie Dish was a smaller dish in which the pie fi lling could be cooked, and then once placed back inside the decorated outer dish and the lid placed back on top, it could be served at the table.Also unusual is the majolica Monkey Oil Lamp. Majolica consists of an earthenware body which can be cast or moulded into a wide variety of shapes (including umbrella stands, garden pots, salad bowls and so on), then decorated with oxide-rich opaque glazes of varying 46 NADFAS REVIEW / SPRING 2017 www.nadfas.org.ukWEDGWOOD MUSEUM