Wedgwood Plaques

This is a set of two Wedgwood blue Jasper portrait plaques of H.M. George IV as prince of Wales and his wife Caroline, princess of Wales, circa 1795. This dramatic pair of large medallions feature the future George IV and Queen Caroline in dramatic white relief on a background of the famed Wedgwood blue jasper. He wears the uniform of the Colonel of the 10th Light Dragoons (renamed The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Light Dragoons in 1783). She is outfitted in an elaborate gown with a magnificent plumed hat. Most likely these plaques were commissioned in commemoration of their marriage in 1795. As befits the royal subjects, these extraordinary portraits are wonderfully impressive and detailed. They retain their original 18th-century metal frames.

George IV (August 12, 1762 to June 26, 1830) was King of Hanover and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of his father, George III, on January 29, 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, during his father’s relapse into insanity, he served as Prince Regent.

Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (May 17, 1768 to August 7, 1821) was joined to her first cousin George in a loveless marriage, arranged for political and financial reasons, on April 8, 1795, at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace in London. Many of her portraits show her wearing large-plumed hats, which were then the fashion, and one has to assume that in any social gathering the queen’s plume would have been the most impressive of all. Her plaque attests to this in remarkable fashion.

Condition is excellent. The size of the oval plaques is 6 by 4 1/2 inches. The frames are 9 inches high. Both have impressed WEDGWOOD marks, and one is inscribed on the back “Prince of Wales.”

This set belongs to a good friend of mine. Please email me for more information or other pictures.