Poole Pottery up to 1959 & Traditional

I'm just back from Bournemouth and thought the vase in our hotel room last night may be of interest:

It was enscribed to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Carlton Hotel in 1975, from Mr & Mrs Smith. It struck me as funny - like they just signed in as Mr and Mrs Smith but were really having an affair!

Would this have been from 1975?





xx

I recently read that Owen Carter of Poole Pottery was great friends with William DeMorgan & many of DeMorgans wonderful pieces were painted on Poole tiles.



this is a lovely tubelined piece, unsigned but probably DeMorgan

Here is a similar,tubelined design on a Poole tile,not in the same league but still very attractive

traditional poole

the base marks

[quote="tenpot"]the base marks[/quote

1937-1940 seems to be the date of this jug,it may have been decorated by Nellie Bishton or Winifred Rose (great names)
The BEA mark tells me it was designed for J.E.Beale Ltd which was a posh department store in Bournmouth so it's less common than the other Bluebird patterns and a less common shape for the BEA design too!

Although I like Studio / Delphis it isn't the only Poole, and in fact the longer I have been interested in Poole the more I have grown to like the earlier 1920's / '30's work. I have also been trying to get my hands on a decent James Radley Young piece for a while (1910's).

Here's a few early-ish traditional pieces.

1920's Grape Pattern vase "NY" designed by Erna Manners and painted by Anne Hatchard. This has the grey glaze used between 1922-1924 so can be dated fairly closely.



Red bodied 1930 - 1934 "YE" pattern twin-handled vase designed by Truda Carter, painted by Eileen Prangnell. Classic art-deco design, one I have sold but wish I still had!



Elegant mid-thirties white bodied trumpet vase with a pastel pink base and pattern "FR". Another Truda Carter design, this time painted by the famous Ruth Pavely who had a long running Poole career right through to the 1960's.

After the war, Poole Pottery was at the forefront of the 1950's design revolution. Alfred Read was appointed head of design and, together with Guy Sydenham and Lucien Myers, came up with some of the decades most iconic pottery.

The clever things is that Read used the same glazes, techniques and in some cases shapes as the pre-war Traditional floral output. It is often known as Freeform, although technically that only applies to certain asymmetric shapes designed by Guy. The patterns were known as Contemporary.

Classic waisted vase decorated with the elaborate PKC pattern designed by Alfred Read in 1954 and painted by Gwen Haskins, senior paintress from the 1950's.



A carafe shaped vase with organic pattern YCB designed by Read in 1953, and also painted by Gwen Haskins.



Ruth Pavely also designed some Contemporary patterns later in the decade. This one (PX) is known as "Tadpoles". It is painted by June March. Funnily enough I sold this at a fair to June March's niece, who was looking for pieces by her aunt. What are the chances of that??



As well as vases, Contemporary patterns were also available on dishes, bowls and tableware. This is a teardrop shaped tableware accessory with another Ruth Pavely pattern, UFT ("Tears")

OK here are some photos of my one and only piece of trad Poole. It's a Bluebird vase that belonged to my grandparents, I believe it may have been a wedding present (they got married in the early 30s but I don't know the exact date). I've always liked it - I think the painting is superb and, of course, it reminds me of my grandparents (I remember it sitting on their hall telephone table).

Apologies for the dodgy photos - taken very quickly just now.

Yes, that's a nice vase Pip. The Truda Carter Bluebird patterns are some of the most popular, they survived in simpler form until the 1980's.

The paintress mark looks like Marjorie Batt (1925 - 1935), and it is made from the more desirable red earthenware which was only used until 1934 (when supplies ran out!). It has the look of an early thirties piece.

The trial mark that Dan spotted is interesting. These various marks seem to have had different meanings over the years, and I have never heard a definitive explanation. One use was to mark a control piece that other paintresses would use to copy a pattern. Another was to mark a piece that it was felt maybe wouldn't fire properly for some reason. However, in this case it is impressed so I think it must relate to the shape. Perhaps it was an early version.

Thanks Gareth,I didn't understand what a control piece was until now.

Indeedy - cheers for the info Gareth & Dan. Sadly it's got a hairline on the neck rim part but, since it's a family thing, I won't be selling it so it doesn't really matter but it does niggle me slightly! Interestingly you say the paintress was Marjorie Batt - well my grandma (it's original owner) was called Marjorie Blanchard...

her married name was Hayward but she may have re-married?

It was a common name though..perhaps because it spread so easily?

Ruth's "f" is quite a bit longer, isn't it Gareth?

It is in the book, but in real life the ones I've seen tend to be squarer, like this