What is the difference between Wedgwood Black Basalt and Jasperware?

Wedgwood Black Basalt and Jasperware are separate stoneware bodies, despite both being closely associated with Josiah Wedgwood and eighteenth-century neoclassical design. Black Basalt is known for its dense black body. Decoration may come from moulding, turning, polishing, incised details or painted encaustic effects. Many pieces are completely black, giving busts, vases and medallions an appearance that can recall bronze or carved stone. Jasperware is strongly associated with coloured grounds and applied relief decoration. Blue and white is the combination many people recognise immediately, but Jasperware has appeared in numerous colours.

White classical figures, borders and plant forms applied against coloured grounds became a famous Wedgwood look. Both materials can hold fine modelling. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records Black Basalt and Jasper as fine stoneware’s hard enough to carry the delicate modelling found on Wedgwood portrait medallions. Collectors sometimes confuse black Jasperware with Black Basalt. Look at the complete construction rather than colour alone. A black ground carrying contrasting applied relief may belong to a Jasperware tradition, whereas a solid black object with the body and decoration formed in the same dark material may be Black Basalt. Marks, model history and production period can settle difficult cases.