Rectangular Plaque

Plaques like this were sometimes framed as independent artworks, but were also inserted into wall panels, chimneypieces and mantels, and furniture. Each of the white figures was cast in clay in a separate mold and then applied to the colored plaques. In this way, each figure could be used as needed, either mounted individually on single small plaques or vases, or arranged in different groups. This interchangeability of decorative elements was a progressive factory procedure devised by Wedgwood that permitted a variety of different objects to be made easily from preexisting elements.