The Frog Service or Green Frog Service is a large dinner and dessert service made by the English pottery company Wedgwood for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and completed in 1774. The service had fifty settings, and 944 pieces were ordered, 680 for the dinner service and 264 for the dessert. At Catherine's request the hand-painted decoration showed British scenes, copied from prints, with a total of 1,222 views. In addition each piece had a green frog within a shield, a reference to the name of the palace it was intended for.
The green frog carried on every piece. According to Josiah Wedgwood's Victorian biographer "he was very unwilling to disfigure the service with this reptile [sic], but was told it was not to be dispensed with".
Serving-plate with Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, Birmingham Museum of Art
Detail of tureen with view of Longford Castle, Hermitage Museum
Dish, ladle and saucer with "husk" border, Wedgwood, c. 1780
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapidly successful and was soon one of the largest manufacturers of Staffordshire pottery, "a firm that has done more to spread the knowledge and enhance the reputation of British ceramic art than any other manufacturer", exporting across Europe as far as Russia, and to the Americas. It was especially successful at producing fine earthenware and stoneware that were accepted as equivalent in quality to porcelain but were considerably cheaper.
Typical "Wedgwood blue" jasperware (stoneware) plate with white sprigged reliefs.
Wedgwood pieces (left to right): c. 1930, c. 1950, 1885
A transfer printed creamware Wedgwood tea and coffee service. c. 1775, Victoria & Albert Museum, in the "Liverpool Birds" pattern. Fashionable but relatively cheap wares like these were the backbone of Wedgwood's early success.
Four creamware plates, transfer printed with stories from Aesop's Fables, the other decoration hand-painted. 1770s.