Is Wedgwood Black Basalt actually made from basalt rock?

Wedgwood Black Basalt is a ceramic stoneware body, not an object carved from a solid block of volcanic basalt. The word “basalt” refers to the dark, stone-like appearance associated with the ware and so this distinction can surprise new collectors. A Wedgwood Black Basalt vase may look like carved stone from a distance, particularly when the surface has been burnished, yet it was formed and fired using ceramic production methods. The material became useful for forms inspired by ancient art. Its fine texture could retain sharp moulded details, making it suited to portraits, classical figures, reliefs and decorative borders.

Wedgwood describes Black Basalt as a stoneware developed by Josiah Wedgwood from the Staffordshire tradition of black pottery during the 1760s. Collectors can sometimes learn a great deal by examining an object under good light. Look at the foot, interior, mould lines, applied parts and any small areas of wear, as these features can reveal ceramic construction that would never appear on carved volcanic stone. The name has remained in use for more than two centuries and auction catalogues, museum records and collectors commonly use “Black Basalt” or “black basalt ware” for Wedgwood's distinctive black stoneware.