THESE 13in (34cm) terracotta roundels of satyrs and bacchantes were produced c.1770 by the British sculptor John Bacon the Elder (1740-99) as models from which Josiah Wedgwood produced examples in black basalt and white stonewhere at his eponymous Staffordshire factory.
The roundels are based on frescoes discovered at Pompeii in the so-called Villa of Cicero. Wedgwood had direct access to the originals through the Marquess of Lansdowne. The highly finished works were formerly in the collection of Dr Terry Freidman, keeper of Decorative Arts at Temple Newsam and at Leeds City Art Gallery.