A tangle of figures in furious motion dominate Wedgwood's oval basalt plaque modeled in finely detailed bas relief. On the lower left, female figures cringe about the figure of an older woman who is unable to help them. To the right male riders fall from their horses in fatal agony. Above, the source of their doom is made clear--two aerial figures directed by a third shoot arrows slaying the victims below. The period of this drama is established by a circular classical temple in subtle low relief at the far right.

What we have is a depiction of the fate of the children of proud Niobe, one of many Greek myths that tell of the tragic consequences of hubris.

Niobe, a mortal of royal blood and mother of seven sons and seven daughters, boasted of her prolific superiority over the demi-goddess Leto, mother of only one daughter and one son. Unfortunately for Niobe, those two children were Artemis and Apollo, fathered by Zeus. Leto called for Olympian vengeance and the fourteen Niobids fell prey to the arrows of Artemis and Apollo. Zeus took pity--of a sort-- on the grieving Niobe, ending her mourning by turning her into a rock.

Wedgwood's plaque was based on a relief by the Italian Guglielmo della Porta (1500-1577), sculptor and architect of the late Renaissance and associate of Michelangelo.