David Leach, Lowerdown Pottery

Bud vase

The US potter Tom Turner has made a video of his collection which includes a porcelain vase made by David Leach in Turner's studio, so it bears Leach's mark and Turner's TT mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J0VnYVb_Lo

Scroll through to 8:14 (mins:secs).

David Leach   11"High x 5 1/2"Wide   With potters Mark.

That's a beauty

Cider is a funny old thing. A pub near not very near me sells a cider called Pickled Pig. It is made with apples and nature and is simply the best I have tasted in 45 years, so when I have the chance, or a good excuse, I repair unto the tavern and bask in all its scrumpytiousness.
While glowing with inner contentment the other day I happened to glance at a selection of pots and jugs lined up on one of the windowsills in the pub and tighten my nuts and call me Gerald if one of them didn't catch my eye and wink at me.
"You know me!" it whispered.
"I do indeed !" I smiled quietly in response.
"I am going to get broken or nicked sitting on this windowsill, exposed to passers-by and their waving appendages or children with chips. At the moment I have no chips but I could do with a home where someone appreciates me.... IF YOU CATCH MY DRIFT!"
The barman fetched up with my sandwich at the very moment the jug and I were having this conversation so I nonchalantly enquired if the jugs were for sale;he asked which one; I said that one; he said I'll find out ; I said thanks very much; he returned and said they were. BINGO.
I paid a tenner for it but, and here is the dilemma I now face, he forgot to charge me for my sandwich, having been diverted by my enquiries about the pot. So, do I never go back? Do I go back and make a clean breast of it or do I just quietly thank the fates for their generosity and cross bridges when I come to them?

.

Are you sure you didn't pay for the sandwich, given the intake of scrumpy? ..... after all you have admitted to conducting a conversation with a pottery jug!

Interesting these tin glazed earthenware pieces that David Leach made for four of five years after leaving St Ives,and starting at Lowerdown,circa 1956 onwards. They are all a bit ordinary,not to say dull! Nothing as good as those he did at St Ives,and nowhere near in any shape or form,remotely near the quality of the stoneware he did later on. One wonders why. Kiln troubles? A crisis of confidence? Needing a quick financial return? Anybody know?

philpot wrote:Interesting these tin glazed earthenware pieces that David Leach made for four of five years after leaving St Ives,and starting at Lowerdown,circa 1956 onwards. They are all a bit ordinary,not to say dull! Nothing as good as those he did at St Ives,and nowhere near in any shape or form,remotely near the quality of the stoneware he did later on. One wonders why. Kiln troubles? A crisis of confidence? Needing a quick financial return? Anybody know?

If that includes my lid-less jam pot and cracked vinegar jug, then I have to disagree, as they are both finely potted, albeit untilitarian. Maybe he simply had a commission from a retailer (Heals? Habitat?) for kitchenware? Maybe that gave him the cash to set up his own pottery? Purely speculation but possible.

Although David was never short of money, after all he did lend his dad money to keep the pottery in St. Ives going, he always thought he was.

He bought the pottery and house at Lowerdown Cross from the Ehlers, who had run it as pottery using an electric kiln, and it was very easy to go in and make work from day one without making any real changes. Apparantly he got the large Edwardian house, fully fitted studio, electric kiln and a considerable amount of land for £5000. David felt he needed to make money quickly and domestic ware was the answer as we have to remember that there were very few places that held exhibitions of one off pots back then. Making inexpensive earthenware as an alternative to what was being made in the Potteries and at a similar price was his choice, hence red earthenware with a simple glaze and perhaps minimal decoration.

It is also said that David felt that he need time to develop his own individual work, as he hadn't had any art school training.

P'raps we should have asked these questions earlier; about 10 years earlier.

10.5" high

??????

Might it be 5 guineas?

The Lowerdown mark was almost always used by apprentices. There does not seem to be a list of these anywhere. Obviously his sons. Jeremy,Simon, also John Maltby,Tim Andrews, Mary Rich. Who else?

The first one working with him in the earthenware years was Freda Sage.

His son, John, was there from 1957 until 1960 as well as the other two sons you mention.

Others included Ian Sprague, Warwick Parker, Buster Hogan (Australian), Kenji Funaki, Gary & Daphe Hatcher (USA), Robert Tinnyant, Chris Barchard, Richard Brooks (Australian), Philip Barlow (New Zealand) & Elizabeth Raeburn.

There were also students from Harrow for a period of 11 years from 1966, who came for 6-8 weeks in the summer as part of their course. David was an external examiner at Harrow during the time.

yes could be 5 guineas SP, this is a large pot -10.5" High so it is still as likely that it was made by David as well as an apprentice .

I have 3 lovely egg cups with just the Lowerdown stamp. How can I tell who potted them?
They date to early 70's

I'm afraid that without a personal mark you can't attribute them to a particular potter

Can anyone say if this is a David Leach piece? It measures about 15cm across.

Looking at the glaze, it appears to be that which he used at the beginning of his time at Lowerdown when he used red earthenware. Although difficult to see the mark looks like L with a D sitting in it. Is it red earthenware?

It is red earthenware and when held in the light, I can just make out a D inside the L.

When using red earthenware (1956 - 1961) the L D mark seems to have been used all of the time (I can't be 100% certain but can't remember seeing the L+ mark on this early earthenware).

He did have assistants at the time.......................... but the mark is LD so it's fair to say it is by David Leach

Many thanks, SP!

Agreed, David Leach