The three-handled loving cup or tyg, a traditional form in European pottery, becomes somet...

The three-handled loving cup or tyg, a traditional form in European pottery, becomes something quite precious when drastically reduced to miniature size and executed in Wedgwood's light green jasper dip. The three graceful handles divide the piece into three separate spaces for sprigwork. In the first sprig, two nymphs are about to steal sleeping cupid's arrow. In the second, Coriolanus's mother and wife entreat him to return to Rome. The third features female archers practicing in front of a statue of the goddess Diana. The quality of the detail defies the difficulties presented by the tiny scale.

Wedgwood's sprig vocabulary tends to have been developed fairly early and used repeatedlly...

Wedgwood's sprig vocabulary tends to have been developed fairly early and used repeatedlly throughout the nineteenth century.
Specifics on these sprigs follow:
"Sleeping Cupid" --- Modeller Unknown, 1773
"Coriolanus" --- modelled by John Flaxman 1784
"The Archers" --- modeller and date unknown although we find variations on the group in transfer patterns from the early nineteenth century.