English porcelain manufacturing gained international importance with Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795). Wedgwood was an entrepreneur, a rare mixture of organizational, scientific, and artistic genius.He developed a cream-coloured earthenware which was cheaper to produce than porcelain but admirably suited to the taste for neoclassical simplicity. He was thus able simultaneously to undercut his competitors on prices and be a leader of fashion. He achieved the latter by obtaining royal patronage (which he commemorated by issuing his celebrated Queen's ware in 1765) and by employing artists of high ability (such as John Flaxman) connected with the modern movement. His wares soon had the same social cachet as porcelain, a fact underlined when Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia ordered a service in 1774. In the 1780s Wedgwood became an international fashion leader. His famous basaltes ware (1769 onward) and jasper ware (1774 onward) are based on antique motifs and were widely copied.
Although there were few effective innovations after the death of its founder, the firm continued to produce noted works. Some of the original designs (especially Queen's ware) have become classics and are still in production. Their simplicity gives them, like the best of Neoclassical design, a timeless quality.
| Summary of earthenwares |
| Delft | Meissen | Sèvres |
| Wedgwood | Zsolnay | Various |
| List of known ceramicists |
