Royal Doulton Chang vase by Charles Noke and Harry Nixon

During the 1920's Charles Noke and Harry Nixon continued to experiment with high temperature fired glazes, extending the research Noke, Slater and Bailey had done in the late 1890's and early 1900's, and in 1925 they produced Chang Ware which had a heavier body than Sung Ware and was brightly coloured with thick congealed glazes.

This stunning example is covered in a thick running glaze in shades of yellow, red and dark brown flambé and crackled white over a mottled flambé ground decorated with a band of berries and foliage. It is 12 cm high.

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A Bernard Moore Vase in the "oriental" style 1905

Fish as a decorative theme clearly connect this and the last vase posted below. They are very different in style and execution however.

The Moore piece is a stunning example of the Aesthetic style or "Japonisme" taste; the west's growing awareness, obsession and take on oriental design which was prevalent in all the arts around the turn of the 19th Century. Woodcuts from Japan were hugely influential on the post impressionists painters and Chinese glazes and techniques in the decorative arts were studied intensely by potters in Europe.

This flambé vase with various degrees of oxidation enhanced with gilt and enamelled decoration of carp is signed and dated 1905 and would have required several firings - a very expensive piece of the highest quality.

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A Wilkinson's "Oriflamme" vase painted by John Butler

John Butler was a very talented art director and painter working at the A J Wilkinson's pottery at the turn of the 20th Century. This miniature 9 cm high vase is a tour de force, demonstrating the highest quality of his work. Decorated with an all-over marbled gold and red lustre ground and highlighted with a finely painted fish; it dates from the early 1900's and represents the end of an era - Wilkinson's was Clarice Cliff's first employer.

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Carlo Manzoni, Granville Pottery (1895 - 1898)

The connection between Carlo Manzoni and the Della Robbia Pottery (see post below) is well documented. He was a friend of Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler who founded the Della Robbia Pottery in Birkenhead in 1894 - not only that, when Dressler left in 1894, Manzoni joined Rathone and closed his own pottery in 1898.

This jug dated 1897 is typical of the wonderfully naive style he produced, almost single-handed, at his short lived pottery; not surprisingly his work is extremely scarce and sought after.

This jug is illustrated on page 54 of John Bartlett's book "English Decorative Ceramics".

Della Robbia Pottery (1894 - 1906)

Probably the finest pottery to emerge from the Arts and Crafts movement in England. In fact the "Jewel in the Crown" considering pieces were purchased  by King George V, Queen Victoria and Edward VII.

This huge vase and cover , nearly 12 inches high and 30 inches in circumference, would probably have been an exhibition piece. Painted by Liza Wilkins and with the throwers mark incised- usually a sign of a high quality piece - this is a stunning example of a short-lived pottery from "Great Britain".

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An Exquisite Martin Brothers Miniature Vase 1893

This finely carved and modelled stoneware miniature demonstrates the exceptional skills of the Martin Brothers' individual style. It is decorated with incised and raised foliage, picked out in blue on four light brown panels against a darker body. In the Gothic style, the scrolling foliage is different in each panel and epitomises the emphasis the Arts and Crafts movement placed on hand worked craftsmanship.

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Bernard Moore and the Development of Copper-red glazes

I don't want to stir up a storm about who won the race to re-create ancient Chinese "Sang de Boeuf" glazes in England  - was it Bernard Moore or the Taylors at the Ruskin Pottery? But this small  Bernard Moore vase  must be of great interest to the debate.

The quest was the holy grail of potters in the Western world in the 19th Century. The glaze, technically a high temperature reduction fired process using copper oxide on a hard paste porcelain body (which could survive the firing) results in a highly attractive scratch resistant, rich red glaze with purple streaks or spotting.

This vase could have been produced as early as 1902 - see Aileen Dawson's book on Bernard Moore p.28 Plate II for a photograph of a very similar example.

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A Ruskin Pottery High Fired Sang de Boeuf Vase

The connection between this vase and the previous Leach pot may not be immediately apparent but Leach was a friend of the Ruskin proprietors and a frequent visitor to their pottery. They shared a love of “oriental” shapes and glazes but stylistically they were very different.

Edward Richard Taylor and his son William Howson Taylor are often credited with being the first potters to successfully re-create ancient Chinese high fired glazes in this country. This simple and beautiful vase was made in 1933 just before the pottery closed although they had mastered the technique in the early 1900s - but were they the first in England to do so?

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St Ives Pottery Earthenware Bowl 1920s

This anonymous small pot could have been made by Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Michael Cardew or Katherine Pleydell Bouverie. Although it is clearly marked with a crisp SI mark in a circle ( in use from 1921) it is unsigned. Dipped in a brown glaze, except for the foot where it would have been held by the finger tips while being dipped, it is simply decorated with brushed wavy lines. It was fired with a small chip to the rim - this flaw and the imperfections of the glaze were apparently of no concern to the potter.

It must have appeared very dull, crude and alien to the British taste of the time. The pottery had just been established, they built there own kilns and used local clay, often of poor quality, and fired their kilns with local wood including Rhododendrons - only a small percentage of the pots made survived the firing. There was a completely different mind set at work here and it took a long time to be appreciated fully.

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An early William Moorcroft "Pomegranate" Vase

William Moorcroft was educated at the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem, and at South Kensignton where he was influenced by the design styles of William Morris and the artist Walter Crane. His tublined, decorated art pieces were always signed and this early "Pomegranate" vase, dating from 1915, is an good example of the high quality of his work.

Now hugely popular with collectors his work was largely ignored until a 1973 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum introduced his work to a wider audience and established his position as a major artist/potter.

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Clarice Cliff: Art Deco Queen

From "Bonkers" to Bizarre. A Coral Firs Bon Jour preserve pot from the early 1930s.

Clarice Cliff, Charlotte Rhead and Susie Cooper - the big design names in Art Deco in England dominated the period and helped introduce modernism to the Great British public, often via mass-produced tableware incorporating bright colours and new shapes. These three women undoubtedly bought into Gordon Forsyth's view of the "educational importance of the appreciation of beauty in mass-produced articles" and the need to break down "the barriers between the fine arts and industrial arts."

Gordon Forsyth was a colleague of Richard Joyce at Pilkington Royal Lancastrian (see post below). Forsyth and Susie Cooper collaborated on the celebrated Gloria Lustre ware produced at AE Gray Ltd.

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Pilkington's Royal Lancastrian Flambe Lustre Vase by Richard Joyce

A completely bonkers flambe lustre vase with relief moulded  fish and seaweed - 22cm in height with impressed marks and painted Richard Joyce monogram. This is a wonderful example of Great British eccentricity and technical innovation from the early 20th Century.

The ruby lustre glaze is a development of the scarlet and tangerine uranium galzes  introduced in 1903 by William Burton.

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Sir Edmund Elton (b.1846 - d.1920)

Sir Edmund Elton was one of the most extraordinary English potters working in this hugely creative period of English Decorative ceramics. Men and women who pushed the boundaries in terms of design and glaze development to the extreme.

He started experimenting with liquid gold and platinum glaze effects from 1902 and produced metallic, crackle glazed ware which must rank among the most daring and beautiful pottery produced at the time.

A world class act - rock on Sir Elton.

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William Moorcroft (b.1872 - d.1945)

William Moorcroft, like Bernard Moore, was born in the Potteries and, as with Moore who he knew well, was also a chemist, artist/potter and entrepreneur.

He is famous for his tube-lined decorations which were hugely successful but from 1919 he began to develop flambé glazes, using a specially built kiln. These early undecorated flambé pieces are scarce and although post date the work of Edward Richard Taylor and his son William Howson Taylor at the Ruskin pottery are extremely interesting to glaze heads the world over.

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Royal Doulton Sung Vase - Moore Connection

During the late 1890s and going forward into the 1920s and 30's Doulton employed Charles Noke who began to experiment and eventually replicate ancient Chinese glazes. Noke, together with Cuthbert Bailey assisted by Bernard Moore as a consultant, developed "Rouge Flambes" and "Sang de Boeuf" ceramics which were highly regarded at the time. These early wares developed into Doulton's much prized Sung and Chang ware produced during the 1920s and 30s.

This Sung vase signed by Fred Moore and dating from the 1920s is the result of the work Noke, Bailey and Bernard Moore started in the 1890s. Approximately 16cm high the glaze is simply stunning and reminiscent of the earlier Sung vase posted on 13 May 2012. Cosmic.

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Bernard Moore Miniature Flambe Vase

Connections are a recurrent theme in english Decorative Ceramics and Bernard Moore is one of those key figures in this period. An artists/chemist he specialised in glaze effects and became renowned for his researches into the glazes of the Far East, producing stunning examples of flambé, sang de boeuf and luster effects. A giant of his age - his works are scarce and coveted by global glaze heads.

A miniature flambe vase with gilding and enameling at the top and to the bottom on two sides. This is a simply stunning little gem, jewel like and precious. Approximately 10cm high.

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Burmantofts Pottery (1880 - 1904) Vase

From the mid 1860s and going forward the taste for Middle Eastern pottery took hold in Europe and England, where major artist/potters including William De Morgan and others caught the bug. 

This is a good example of the 'Persian' style produced by Burmantofts in the 1890s. One of a pair it shows to good effect the hard, translucent glaze of the company's faience products with their characteristically bright colours. Decorated with  pomegranates, bunches of grapes and spiky leaves the bulbous vase is approximately 21cm high .

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C H Brannam Puffin Jug 1898

A very different aesthetic evident here compared to the previous jug! 
This charming jug painted in green, brown and yellow is full of humour but extremely well modelled by hand in the local Fremington red clay. It epitomises the high quality and artistry of pottery produced  in the west country and other 'country studios' of the period. To quote Charles R Ashbee, a prominent member of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society:

"The proper place for Arts and Crafts is in the country....away from the complex, artificial, and often destructive influence of machines and the great town."

Inscribed CH Brannam, Barrum 1898 and the intials BW it is almost 20cm high.

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Linthorpe Art Pottery Henry Tooth jug designed by Christopher Dresser

Produced between 1879 and 1882 this is a wonderful example of very early industrial design by Christopher Dresser, made by Henry Tooth at the Linthorpe Art Pottery. Dresser, unlike William Morris who was also influenced by John Ruskin and Pugin, realised that industrialisation need not be the enemy of good design. Dresser's aesthetic is realised by Tooth's development of multi-coloured, brilliant glazes found in 17th and 18th Century Chineses porcelain.

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Martin Brothers Miniature Vase

Abstract English art at the turn of the 20th Century - quite remarkable! 
A superb example of the miniature vases produced by the Martin Brothers artist/potters (working between 1873 - 1915). This vase is 9cm in height and is of slender globe and shaft form decorated in a minamilist brown brushed glaze with incised marks "Martin London".

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Minton Secessionist Vase Ten Years After

Still pattern No:1 but 10 years after the variation in the last post. Stylistically more Deco than Nouveau but just as beautiful. A pair dated 1915 approximately 24cm high. Anyone Remember Alvin Lee?

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Minton Secessionist Vase

From Art Deco to Art Nouveau.
Tubelined decoration was also used extensively by Mintons, particularly on Secessitionist pieces. This  No: 1 vase is an absolutely stunning examples of the Art Nouveau style introduced by Leon Solon and John Wadsworth and dates from around 1905.

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Charlotte Rhead, Crown Ducal Wisteria Vase

Sticking with Charlotte Rhead and her Crown Ducal period here is a beautiful example of a small possy vase in the Wisteria pattern. According to Bernard Bumpus' book on Charlotte Rhead the pattern "made an impression at the 1937 British Industries Fair when it attracted the attention of Queen Mary who bought a flower jug in the pattern."

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Charlotte Rhead Crown Ducal Octagonal Charger

This Charlotte Rhead Crown Ducal charger features the Hydranger pattern (3797) and was introduced at the Bristish Industries Fair in February 1935. The tube-lined decoartion is particularly effective on plates, chargers and plaques. An extremely beautiful and decorative example.

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Doulton Sung Vase by Charles Noke

As well as being a focus for contemplation and meditation these pots are rare objects of desire which we react to on a very sensual plane.

This Doulton 14cm high Sung vase by Charles Noke, dating from the early 1920s, with its ovoid body decorated with splashes of violet and yellow is a pure joy. As John Bartlett explains in his excellent book English Decorative Ceramics "...Noke was further experimenting in flambe (wares) by extending the colour range, sometimes coating the glaze with metalilc oxides".

A true alchemist. Click on the image to enlarge and contemplate the cosmos contained within this tiny vessel.

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Pilkington Royal Lancastrian

While on the subject of glazes this high fired irredessant silver/blue Pilkington Royal Lancastrian vase dated 1909 is absolutely stunning. It almost has the appearance of being made out of glass but you can still see the red body of the clay beneath the awe-inspiring glazing.

If you focus in on the glaze intently it induces a sense of wonder and a highly relaxed medidative state of mind.

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Ruskin Pottery, Kingfisher Glaze

Check out the galze on this early Ruskin Pottery Kingfisher blue vase - impressed RUSKIN mark and dated 1911, height 23cm. I love the way this pioneering father and son team with their fellow craftsmen were inspired by oriental shapes and glazes, and strived to reproduce the simplicity of form and colour of the ancient Chinese wares.

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