Wedgwood ventures into the world of everyday utilitarian wares- what they referred to as u...

Wedgwood ventures into the world of everyday utilitarian wares- what they referred to as useful wares --  in this hollow creamware boot shape piece.  In Robin Reilly's standard work Wedgwood: The New Illustrated Dictionary, (p. 397), he notes that the piece was used for drying socks -- and supposedly warming them by first filling the hollow piece with hot water. Given the petite size, we wonder if they may have served some additional function such as blocking new woolen socks for an infant.  They may have been handy for darning as well.

To modern eyes, trained in the ways of functional minimalism, Wedgwood's "useful wares" ha...

To modern eyes, trained in the ways of functional minimalism, Wedgwood's "useful wares" have an appeal their creators or first consumers could never have imagined. Today this piece is sculpture--with of course anecdotal reference to archaic wardrobe practices that now seem very foreign.