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'Turin' vase: C.13-1998

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

'Turin' vase

Maker(s)

A. G. Richardson and Co
Designer: Rhead, Charlotte
Decorator / tube-liner: Dickinson, Rose

Entities

Categories

Description

White earthenware vase, glazed in pale sea-green and tube-lined in black, with decoration in olive green lustre-glaze and mid-blue enamel.

Slightly squat, bulbous vase, thrown, with a short, wide, not-quite-circular neck. The whole pot is coated in a pale sea-green glaze, thinly applied to display pronounced throwing rings. The outside is covered with a tube-lined design of over-lapping, tube-lined lotus leaves. Alternate leaves are in-filled with a thin coating of lustrous olive glaze, which has also been applied to the outside of the neck and foot-rims. At the top, the space between the leaf tips and rim is painted sky blue. The underside is recessed and glazed.

Notes

History note: Cheffins, Grain & Comins, Cambridge, 13th May 1998, Pottery, Porcelain & Glass, lot 37

Legal notes

Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum

Measurements and weight

Height: 14.2 cm
Width: 19.5 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Cobridge ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England
  • Tunstall ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1998) by Cheffins, Grain & Comins

Dating

20th Century
Circa 1932 CE - 1938 CE

Note

A.G.Richardson was based at the Gordon Pottery, Tunstall, from 1915. Tube-lining and decorating continued there when a second workshop, for ‘freehand work’ was opened at Britannia Pottery, Cobridge, in 1934. ‘Crown Ducal’ was the trade name for Richardson’s fancy or novelty ware; otherwise, the main products were breakfast, coffee, dinner and dessert sets. Richardson revived Charlotte Rhead’s designs during the 1950s, though these later editions are rarely marked.

Charlotte Rhead (1885-1947), also known as ‘Lottie’, came from a family of potters who over several generations built a reputation for tube-lined and pâte-sur-pâte decoration. Charlotte trained at Fenton School of Art and from 1901 worked at a succession of potteries as a decorator. From 1912-1926 she worked for her father, Frederick, who was art director at Wood & Sons, and at their subsidiaries Bursley Ltd and the Ellgreave Pottery Co; some of this work appeared under her own back-stamp as ‘Lottie Rhead ware’. By 1926, she had joined Burgess & Leigh, and from 1932-c.1942 designed art-ware and other products for A.G.Richardson & Co. In 1942 she returned to a Wood & Sons subsidiary, H.J.Wood, remaining there until her death. Although best known for her popular tube-lined designs, Charlotte Read also introduced new shapes and innovative glazes, including ‘broken’ (mottled) glazes and a thick matt white ‘snow glaze’ which attracted interest in the trade press.

This design, pattern number 2691, ‘Turin’, is used on tea and coffee ware and plates, as well as bowls and vases, and was common from 1932. It is found with slight colour variations. It was produced on tracing paper and ‘pounced’ onto the leather-hard pot to guide the tube-liner. Rose Dickinson (Mrs Cumberbatch), whose mark appears under Charlotte Rhead’s facsimile signature on the underside, was responsible for the tube-lining on this vase.

School or Style

Art Deco

Components of the work

Decoration composed of slip ( (possibly)) underglaze (material)

Materials used in production

Glaze
Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Throwing : Thrown earthenware, painted in black and blue and glazed with greens.

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: 148
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Impressed
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: letters in script, with a crown over

  • Text: Crown Ducal/England
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Printed in blue
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: CRheAd (sic)

  • Text: 148. / CRheAd
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Inscribed in black script
  • Type: Signature

Inscription present: a reverse 'C' enclosing a dot, below the facsimile signature

  • Text: .)
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Inscribed in black
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: very small, could be '87'

  • Text: 47
  • Location: Underside of base, over glaze
  • Method of creation: Inscribed in black
  • Type: Mark

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.13-1998
Primary reference Number: 28616
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "'Turin' vase" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/28616 Accessed: 2024-12-22 17:15:40

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/28616 |title='Turin' vase |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 17:15:40|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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