Archive for Pottery
Rare antique Poole tile – Death on horseback
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Poole Tile
Heres a very old and very rare tile made in Poole by the Architectural Pottery co and dating from about 1860. Death riding on a horseback – well 1860 was at the height of the Victorian Gothic era and so it was most suitable for its time. I identified this tile from a picture of a similar one on the book “The decorated tile” by J & B Austwick. This book is long out of print but well worth trying to obtain a second hand copy if you are a collector of tiles. AntiquesAvenue has a range of interesting antique tiles available.
Wedgwood Jasper Cupids for Valentines Day
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Cupid Kneeling
On theme of Vintage for Valentines day- I have just noticed how often Wedgwood used Cupid as a motif applied to Wedgwoods jasper ware. There are examples of Cupid in all sorts of poses including Cupid Kneeling, Cupid asleep and Cupid pretending to be oracle to name just a few.
So just who was Cupid? According to Wiki :
In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin cupido) is the god of erotic love and beauty. He is also known by another one of his Latin names, Amor (cognate with Kama).In popular culture Cupid is frequently shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine’s Day. The more common holiday representation of Cupid is a putto with a bow and arrow. Sometimes the arrow will have a heart for its tip. Cupid is most often seen either nude or diapered. Cupid is sometimes blindfolded, as in the expression “love is blind. Modern reinterpretations of the Cupid character may leave off traditional details of the character, but the character’s main purpose generally remains to help or make people fall in love or possibly engage in physical intimacy.
The picture above shows a silver ring set with a Wedgwood jasper Cameo featuring Cupid Kneeling – antiquesavenue antique shop offers a range of Wedgwood cupids set into jewellery and into trinket trays
Poole Pottery elephants – Harold Brownsword
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Poole elephants
From my post bag:
I have a pair of small Poole pottery buff/yellow elephants in my
possession. These were purchased by my Mum and Dad on their honeymoon from Poole
Pottery in 1934. They are in perfect condition and I believe Harold Brownswood
designed them during the period he worked for Poole Pottery in 1928 to
1930.
I have searched the internet for any similar elephants with no success.
Are you able to shed any light of them for me please?
Poole Marks
My Reply:
I have had a bit of a search around and cant find much about the elephants – I am presuming that these are bookends. As you say they were designed by Harold Brownsword who worked for the pottery in 1928 to 1930. According to the book “Poole Pottery” by Hayword and Atterbury: Brownsword (1885-1964) also designed other models for Poole including Knight Bookends. The elephants were made of slip cast white earthenware or stoneware. Yours look like the earthenware variation to me.
Do you have anything further to add ? if so please leave a comment here. AntiquesAvenue shop also has a Poole elephant for sale
Royal Crown Derby £1 million dinner service News
Posted by: | CommentsRoyal Crown Derby have come up with a cunning plan to beat the recession. This company who have manufactured excellent quality porcelain since 1750 have decided to go even more upmarket with a dinner service costing £1 million.
Crown Derby trinket box
The Heritage service is available in a variety of colours with a plate taking up to a week to complete. Prices range from £1,ooo for a plate to £15,000 for a tureen. The BBC have a piece on this which includes a video of one of the plates. all pieces are expected to be sold abroad .
Sorry, Royal Crown Derby but I dont think you will have my custom just yet – I think I need a new car more than a brand new £5000 teapot!
Porcelain miniatures, trinket boxes and enamel boxes
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wedgwood basalt miniatures
AntiquesAvenue shop has had a bit of a change around to help you find the vintage miniatures I have available to buy. The enamel boxes and trinket boxes have now joined with porcelain miniatures into the new Miniatures areas. This work has been done in advance of a great new selection of pieces I have to put in here. I hope you enjoy looking
Wedgwood Jasper Jewellery
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wedgwood jasper brooch
I know Wedgwood jasper jewellery is a very popular collectable from antique Victorian pieces through the 20th century jasper cameos set into silver and through to the designer pieces of the last few years. These cameos are sprigged in the same way as Wedgwood jasper vases and tableware, that is the designs are created as separate pieces and then applied to the body. The jewellery also come in all the colours of Wedgwood jasper but it is most usual to see it in blue.
I have just acquired a lovely selection of 20th century Wedgwood jasper rings and Wedgwood jasper brooches from the early 1970s. You can find most of the pieces for sale in my shop in the vintage jewellery section.
I am fascinated by the range of designs available on these pieces – have you seen the lady and dolphin ( or grotesque fish / monster) brooch ? If you have any pieces of wedgwood jewellery with unusual designs please do send me a .jpg photo. I want to create a gallery on here of the designs and identify what the pictures symbolise.
Art Pottery
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Bretby art pottery
Art Pottery has long been a favourite of mine, you can build up a good looking collection which can add colour and interest to you home . It has a fascinating history and each piece has been hand crafted and so retains individual character. Some of the individual art pottery makers are quite famous: Doulton. Ruskin, Pilkingtons, and Wedgwood are just a few names you will come across.
What is Art Pottery?
The heyday of British Art Pottery was the period between circa 1870’s and 1920’salthough manufacture continues to the present day.
Art Pottery tends to have been produced by the larger manufacturers, that produced by smaller potteries of just a few craftsmen is generally termed STUDIO POTTERY
Characteristics of Art Pottery:
Art Pottery is influenced by the prevalent ARTS MOVEMENT or STYLE of its time :
Art Pottery is made from a pottery body: EARTHENWARE, TERACOTTA or STONEWARE. You do not normally find British art pottery made from PORCELAIN.
Art Pottery has a degree of hand craftsmanship, the entire pot may be hand thrown or at least it will have been hand decorated
Manufacturers were proud of their Art Pottery and it frequently bears their manufacturers marks
AntiquesAvenue shop has a nice selection of art pottery for sale and I will be writing more about the individual potteries over the comming year. In the mean time here are a couple of nice pieces to look at:
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- Art pottery vase
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- Bretby art pottery
What am I ? – antiques object identification
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Mystery object
The first in an occasional series of mini articles I will be writing on identifying your antiques. Antique dealers are often faces with strange items they dont recognise – things from the past which are not often seen today. Before we can work out a value we have to know what it is. Should I by this item? what can I tell my customers about this ? So antiques object identification , knowing what and item is, is quite important to me.
This piece is made of porcelain and has the Wedgwood backstamp dating from the very early 1900s, it is prettily decorated and so you can guess that is was for use by a lady. This is a small object, quite delicate and not for heavy use. Any ideas?
Here is is again showing its original intended use as a ring tree:
Wedgwood Ring Tree