I have owned this vase
for some time now and have never been able to sell it. I have had the
chance but always held it back. It always seemed to work in with my
decoration. I always had a spot for it.
A beautiful creation by
Pilkington decorated by Richard Joyce the best decorator at
Pilkingtons at the best period in their creative history.
The glory of
Pilkingtons lustre ware has for some time been eclipsed by the work
of the William De Morgan factory.
Because they made so
many different styles, that covered a large time span, I feel, people
pigeon hole the wares. Maybe that's understanding as there are many
differing qualities at Pilkingtons and a plethora of commercial
work.
Is the marketplace
finally appreciating the lustred ware of Pilkingtons?
The factory was formed
almost by accident in 1891, when discovery of clay at Clifton, five
miles north of Manchester.
This discovery, in the
colliery, owned by J and J Evans, which the Pilkington Brothers ran
on their behalf.
The Red Marl clay was
found during faulty coal mining engineering at, what was known as the
Pendleton fault, and it was thought this could be used for bricks.
A rather better
decision, was made, to make tiles and the Pilkington Tile and Pottery
company was formed.
William Burton was
brought in, he was a young chemist who had learnt his trade at
Wedgwood.
He had studied
chemistry at the Royal School of Mines at South Kensington.
The operation was set
up in the most professional of manners. The Pilkington Brothers had
no experience and left the running up of the plant to William Burton
and his brother Joseph who joined him 1895.
It had good canal and
rail links and was a good spot for ready labour.
Burton hired the many
specialists from his contacts.
Burton had been an
examiner for City and Guilds examination board and his theory that
potters should be trained in workshops and not schools was to be
implemented.
His beneficial
experience brought in a style of management that was to help and
encourage the workers. He took care in their welfare and training.
Some workers were
taken to see the Paris Exhibition of 1900 and students were sent to
art schools, expenses paid.
Joseph the younger
brother was a renowned expert on early pottery, especially Chinese.
He was, the main
experimenter with glazes, and his work has often been eclipsed by the
bolder steps of his older brother.
1893 after two years of
tile making began several small pottery experiments had gone well.
Trade increased and in
1896 and a new slip house, grinding plant, tile plant, bisque oven
and placing shed were erected.
It is debatable as in
the order of good potting, whether it be the science of the glazes
and its effect on the clay, or the art of the craftsman and
decorator. Yet, you can not have one without the other.
Potters around 1900
were now being led by the advances of the scientists. They could no
longer ignore these leaps in chemistry and the public wanted the new,
or in this period literally the style of the New Art or Art Nouveau.
With the commitment to the new style what better than to commission
designers of note such as Walter Crane, who it has been claimed,
rightly or wrongly, was the very first pioneer of the style.
At the 1901 Glasgow
Exhibition the company showed four panels with designs by Alphons
Mucha.
C.F.A. Voysey added
great company to their stable of designers.
There began an
obsession with colour. Looking back retrospectively this period of
the 1890's was a period of the impressionists and Manet and Matisse.
This is a period of
intense commercial competition and the commerce was being led by
inspiring palettes of colour, mostly led by chemists, something new
and different....that sold.
The various niches were
filled not only here but on the continent of America who had taken up
the arts and crafts ideal.
Europe was changing,
new styles highlighted borders and heritage, as well as a new take on
that past, such as the salt glazed designs of Henry Van De Velde in
Belgium.
Theodore Deck, did
fantastic Persian inspired work as did William De Morgan.
Lachenal in France with
his velvet blues, Dalapayrat even had a colour named Dalpayrat Rouge.
Many others on the continent, not only in France, were causing
sensations with new unique wares.
There really was an
international run on the New Art.
The public lapped it up
decorating their houses in the Art Nouveau.
So what of the
historical references to the most basic of tasks, making a vessel.
Decoration to pots
possibly came before the art of cave painting by the simple incision
in clay, and the decoration of a utensil. I believe this is incised
in our DNA. In our primeval inner core of sensibility. Abstract art
began in primitive times, well before we can reach back justifiably
with confirmation.
Gordon Forsyth, it is
said, saw the twisted and bent steelwork of the British pavilion of
the Brussels Exhibition of 1910 and immediately was inspired to
design lustre glazed pots with sweeping swirling depictions of flames
in lustrous colours, already stabilised by the chemists.
So now the work of
chemistry became as important as skill.
Many new art factories
knew what they were doing and the public wanted this new art.
Back in Lancashire. In
1913 there were twenty four tile kilns, seven biscuit ovens and three
ghost ovens all functioning well.
At some point, a
different white earthenware, combining china clay, flint, from
France, ball clay and china stone, that was imported from Cornwall
Devon and Dorset by ship and then barge.
The company had its
own wharf and a storage facility that facilitated the weathering and
the maturing of the clay.
The company made a
profit, but in 1905 saw a £124 loss just as the lustre ware was
about to go into production. Only pottery decorated by glaze was
being made at this time.
During the First World
War tile production diminished a loss of £13,516. But soon the
company returned to profit. 1920 saw a profit of £28,047 and it
prospered until the economic downturn of the thirties saw the
closure, except for prestigious contracts, when the pottery was all
but closed.
From 1917 production of
pottery fell from 10.5per cent to 1.3per cent of production. It had
always been a small scale enterprise funded by the prosperous side of
the company.
The lustre wares an
even smaller enterprise within.
Lapis Ware, much easier
to produce, was introduced in the late twenties.
In 1937 the company
was renamed Pilkingtons Tiles Ltd with the cessation of pottery
production. During The Second World War they even annealed steel bars
under government contract.
They were even asked to
carry out experiments on pottery bullets by the war office.
Revived in 1948-57,
they never recreated the past glory of the pottery wares and closed
again.
The tile business
merged with Carter and Co of Poole on 1964, companies with similar
histories of tile and pottery production. Combining the both
companies, Lancastrian pottery started production in 1972 but closed
1975 using some of the shapes from a broad spectrum of wares from
1904-38.
The company is still
making tiles on a vast scale.
So what of my vase and
who was Richard Joyce.
He was born in 1873 in
the hamlet of Boothorpe near Blackford, Derbyshire.
He studied at the
Swadlincote school of art, he had, at one time worked for Bretby, run
by Henry Toothe. He had also worked for Moore's Brothers. He moved to
Pilkingtons in 1903 where he remained until his death in1931. His
work is always of the finest quality. He mainly decorated the pieces
with animal and fish studies. He was a unassuming man by all
accounts. He was an angler for sure, nobody has told me this, but I
know that he was. Within this vase he has captured the gravel bed
river scene, from below the water. Its as if, you have cut a
vertical slice into the river, and have been able to join the
creatures. It is clever depiction of Dace amongst the flowing reed
beds. And what convinces me he was a fisherman most? It is the single
Grayling that is there.
When fishing, or river
trotting for Dace, a small but lively breed, in shallow but fast
running section, you sometimes have to get in the water, and feel the
current. Slowly trotting a waggler float down to the jittery and
easily spooked, but beautiful fish. You sometimes see them darting
around you as you quietly creep closer. Like silver doubloons being
spun through the water. You will catch a couple of Dace, if you are
lucky and then a few more and then you will catch a different
coloured one, as if by surprise you catch a small but strong more
colourful fish of the river, the Grayling.
Related to the game
fish more than the course fish there are always a few that shoal with
Dace.
As if, by return
compliments, the same thing happens within the shoals of Grayling you
will catch the odd Dace.
They don't grow that
large but are great sport on light 1lb line. Richard Joyce saw all
that.
Its like he was in the river with the fish. A very clever
touch.
The Paris office of
Pilkingtons revealed that they had the use of 20 designs a year but
it is not clear just how many of Mucha's designs were in fact used.
