Studio vase, WM Owens

by **benwilliams** December 8th 2021, 9:26 am

Studio vase, WM Owens
Heavily potted, interesting decoration
Can’t see any pottery online for w Owens or WM Owen
What I can see on Wikipedia is there was a William Owen, trade unionist, in the 19th Century in Staffordshire who trained as a ‘pottery turner’ and organised labour and strikes etc in the potteries.
Could the glazing on this be right for a 19th C piece? Blue, green, red, and creamy-tan inside. Outside looks heavily incised.
The bottom of the pot looks ever so clean though. Hard to believe it’s 150 years old.
? So maybe a hobby potter and made last year?

by **philpot** December 8th 2021, 10:28 am

Way back then Staffordshire Potteries were a Huge industrial complex, turning out vast amounts of pottery. A pottery turner would just have been a very small cog in the machine. There is no way he would be marking his work.
More likely a hobby potter.

by **benwilliams** December 8th 2021, 9:24 pm

Thanks Philpot, that makes sense about a mere worker signing something.
It’s an unusual pot - glaze and decoration so perhaps a hobby potter is likely.