Friday, September 19, 2008

Louis Rhead - the apple never falls far

Louis Rhead was one of a family of talented designers, illustrators and potters who made his mark in America designing images like the one above for The Sun magazine in 1894. His famous niece, Charlotte Rhead has become a household name to pottery collectors and Frederick Rhead, also, has become more and more collected ( i adore his Koreaware painted vases). Well, what has this got to do with Bishop & Stonier? Although i have not found any evidence to suggest any of the family were employed by B&S, the above image was used on an Oriental Ivory jug - i know i've already shown it to you, but here it is again. Now, my hope is that i will find another Bishop & Stonier jug with an image by Louis Rhead which may point at a real business connection and not that they just nicked the design.

2 comments:

Bart Verbrugge said...

Hello,

I am a ceramics collector in the Netherlands.
I have two jugs with the same decoration in my collection. Jug 1 is the same model, but with pale green back ground. On the bottom an ink stamp: 'Goodyer'. My guess is that this is the name of a store for decorative goods in London, named Goodyer. The owner of this store was a former employee of Liberty's.
The other is a larger jug, same pale green back ground, with the ink stamp 'Cleo' on the bottom.

Kind regards
Bart Verbrugge

The Ticcy Knitter said...

Hi Bart,

i'm curious, when you say you're a ceramics collector, do you collect a variety of ceramics, or are you particularly interested in Bisto, or Art Deco, or just a generalist?
I haven't come across the mark of "Goodyer" on any of my Bishop & Stonier collection, but I think your theory about it being a retailer's mark is perfectly plausible. It's not a name of store that i've heard of myself, the more common examples you find on Bishop & Stonier ware are for Harrods or Maples. I don't know what the word "Cleo" refers to on your other piece... could be the pattern name i guess. If you would like to send me a picture of your two jugs, i love to share them with other visitors to this blog.
regards
Russell

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Sometimes, life doesn't turn out the way you expected. And sometimes, it is exactly as it was 'meant' to be. I believe that life is a both a learning experience and an obstacle course to be climbed and clambered over in the most creative way possible! In doing so, you'll get to where you should be even if it's not where you'd imagined.