Wedgwood Jasperware Heart Trinket Box Pale Blue on White Classical Relief Boxed

A Wedgwood jasperware trinket box in the form of a heart, decorated in pale blue relief on a white ground. The lid carries a classical scene of a seated figure attended by two standing figures, flanked by rosettes and framed by a laurel and leaf border; the base is banded with small applied leaves. It comes in the original printed Wedgwood carton, the label reading Jasper (Pale Blue on White), HEART BOX, 2500. Jasperware is Josiah Wedgwood's own invention, a dense unglazed stoneware coloured throughout rather than on the surface, perfected in 1774 after years of trials. The reliefs are made separately in moulds, released as thin white sheets, and laid onto the body by hand before firing, which is why the edges of the figures are crisp and slightly undercut rather than blurred. Almost every jasper piece people picture is white relief on blue; this is the reverse colourway, blue relief on a white body, made in far smaller quantities and easy to overlook on a shelf because it reads as plain white from a distance. Condition is very good. The box and lid are both intact with no chips or cracks found and the relief crisp throughout. There are a few small tan specks on the underside of the lid from storage, shown in the photographs. The carton is present with light shelf wear. No rule measurement was supplied for this item.