Credit Crunch? what Credit Crunch?

A retailer in the USA has been trying to sell this lidded jar by PB&S and retailed by Hendersons on Ebay. From the dimensions given, it's a pretty large piece and I have no idea what its intended use was, perhaps biscuits?. The 'buy it now' price is over a $1000us - could it be that the seller should stick to their guns and when the economy looks a little brighter, some eager collector may just dig deep in their pockets, or are they in cloud cuckoo land like Mr Brown thinking we can all spend our way out of this recession?

Home to roost

Conway patterned dish

Just lately, there has been a slew of beautiful Bisto pieces for sale on Ebay, and sadly i have missed out on all of them for one reason or another. On checking on the feedback of the winning bidders, it seems none of them has a history of buying Bishop & Stonier pieces so either they're new Bisto collectors, or they simply bought the pieces because they liked them for what they were and not who made them. I can't argue with that now, can I? But I am starting to get a bit anxious and tetchy that I'm being out bid on more and more auction delights. It could simply be a sign of global economics and my Pound isn't worth what it used to be, or, there truly are more and more Bisto buyers out there of late. Is my proseletysing finally paying off? Indeed, are my chickens coming home to roost? Will all my blogging and shouting about Bisto actually mean that I end up sleeping in a Bisto-less bed because I've been priced out of the market by the Bisto-Collecting-Monsters that I have created - made irrelevant and killed off by my own Bisto kids? AAaarrrggghh

1930s Bisto teapot a beautiful miniatre vase from the Edwardian period

A handpainted plate from a set of similar plates with views, this one being Derwentwater.

Athena patterned two-handled cup (possibly a chocolate cup) and saucer.

West German Pottery vs Kilrush

Well, the plot thickens! On flicking through the April 2009 edition of the BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine I found a most intriguing development to the WGP vs Kilrush question. In their readers letters section, a Mr Gordon Morley had sent in a query about a vase in his collection, numbered on the base 105/24. The expert, Will Farmer, told him in reply that it was by E. S. Keramik, a Post War German piece, and valued around £30-40. If i hadn't only just posted a blog entry about a very similar pot, i wouldn't have paid much attention. But the vase from the magazine is clearly by the same designer and company as the Kilrush jug i mentioned only the other day. Now, how do i know that the jug was by Kilrush and not E.S.Keramik? Well, it was sold on Ebay recently and the seller said that it had a stamp underneath that said it was by Kilrush. So, Mr Farmer, we have an impass it seems. Unless, one or other of these factories imported each other's work and sold it as their own? Does anyone have any more light to shed on this mystery?

Dare I wander from the path of righteousness?

Regular visitors to my blog will know that i have recently been tempted by the Dark Side, that is, to start a collection of pottery that is not by Bishop & Stonier et al. I admit to having picked up the odd piece of pottery here and there that just takes my fancy, from various factories, but until now i have resisted the temptation of starting a secondary collection of ceramics - mainly due to the fact that there are so many great potteries and ceramic artists works out there that i like. Well, after mistaking a piece of Kilrush ceramic for West German Pottery, I decided to investigate the pottery further. Wouldn't you know it, there really is very little on the net about it and only a handful of pieces for sale on sites like Ebay. But here for your consideration are a few pieces by Kilrush which I'm sure you will agree, do bear a striking similarity to the wares coming out of contemporary West German factories. I must say, i like the simplicity and colours of these pots far more than the WGP though.

This is such a stylish piece - i love it.

what do you call a gathering of dragons?

Here is my collection of Bisto ware that have decorated with Dragons. This led me to thinking what one might call a group of Dragons: a pride, a party, a swarm, a school, a herd? I have heard the term, "a nest of dragons", but that suggests the place a mother hatches her young, but doesn't really work in this situation. Maybe there is no word for a group of them, perhaps they've always been regarded as solitary creatures. No matter, they look fabulous grouped together here.

being drawn to the Dark Side

i recently mentioned how i'd found the pottery and glass forum, via Mark Hill's blog. Well, from what i can gather, most, if not all of its regular contributers are mad keen on West German Pottery (WGP) and rate it highly as a collectible that is going places (particularly in terms of value). Mark Hill has written on the subject and there has been an exhibition to showcase the out put of West German pottery manufacturers - predominantly of the 50s, 60s, 70s. Well, i swore to myself that i would not be drawn in any further than the one WGP vase i already owned. But i'm afraid i have succumbed. Above is my collection of 4 WGP pieces, but i "promise", that's it now... no more... ...... ............ ........ err....

things that go bump in the night

I have a number of candlesticks and chambersticks in my collection and was happy this week to be able to add another pair to my shelves. This set of Oriental Ivory, Aesthetic movement candlesticks was made in the 1880s. They have a strange confection of aesthetic period motifs transfer printed and hand enamelled on the surface. Here also are a few close-ups of the insects and flowers depicted on them. I have to admit, of all the animal kingdom, insects are my least favourite, and mosquitos alongside wasps have to be the most loathsome creatures made by God (he must've been having an "off" day).

spreading my ceramic wings

I've been away from my blog for a few days and surfing around various pottery and collectors' sites. After visiting Mark Hill's blog, i found a link to the amazing pottery and glass forum. Some of you may have already found it and will have been chatting on there for ages, but for newbies like me it has been a revelation... Yes, i REALLY am, not the only ceramics geek/freak in the village! Another link for you is the blog of one collector/dealer in Reading. His specialism is Mid 20th century design (so a bit late for any Bisto collectors) and he looks really cool! http://mid20c.blogspot.com/ .

Emsworth Auction

Yesterday, my partner and I visited the Emsworth Church Path Auction which is run by friends of ours, the delightfully eccentric Hilary and Michael. Whilst there, I made an unsuccessful bid on a W H Earp landscape painting - my maximum bid was £42 which on later internet research proved to be well under its deserved price. I had heard of the artist, but wasn't sure enough about it's profitability to make any more of a concerted effort to win it. I also hadn't bargained on someone else in the room also taking a shine to it as most of the other "art" in the auction was raising pretty paltry sums of money. Anyhow, the better man/woman won and I left empty handed. However, also whilst there, I spied a truly fantastic wash bowl by MASONS which had a huge green dragon and enameled black and orange border decoration. It reminded me of some wash sets I'd seen at the equally fantastic Stansted House near Rowlands Castle (Hampshire). If this lot hadn't been quite so disastrously damaged and poorly re-assembled, I may not have been able to stop my bidding hand from rising. On returning home and after a surf on the internet, I came across the above plate by Bishop & Stonier for sale in the USA in an auction of other Blue & White china. This stunning Dragon plate would look amazing displayed on a wall or as the centre piece to a Bisto collection and strangely, I think it would work better as a single piece and not as part of a set.

BISTO AZTEC WARE

Many thanks are owed to a gentleman and his daughter, called Lesley and Leslie respectively, who sent me pictures of two pieces of Aztec ware that they have at home. This range dates from the 1920s and was produced in a few colour variations and some with lustre glazes (as evidenced here). So, here for your delectation are the two Lesley/Leslie's pots. If anyone reading has other examples that you'd like to share with me and other readers of this blog, please do get in touch.

What exactly DID happen in 1883?????

You may recall, a few months ago I was reeling from the fact that I missed out on a fantastic armourial, handpainted bowl that was being sold on Ebay. I have a tazza which had obviously been painted by the same artist, to commemorate the same occasion, but the price just went too high for my budget at that time. Well, another piece from the same commision (?), or at least, by the same artist, came up for sale so I dug a little deeper to secure it for my own collection. This fabulous plate, handpainted on an oriental ivory blank, has a crest, monogram (or joining of two initials) and a family motto, "Virtute non armis fido" which means something like "I trust in Virtue not arms". Well, on doing a bit of internet googling, ie. Wikipedia, I found that this is the family motto of Lord Gray de Wilton. Whether there is a connection to this historic family i can't say for sure. From what I can tell, 1882/83 was the year when one Earl died and another was created - so it could have been a commission for this event. Alternatively, it may be a commemorative piece for a wedding? What i find most intriguing on this piece, is the handpainted musical notes, A, and F, on the back which surely refer to someone's initials? Anyone got any thoughts on the matter, please do get in touch! particularly if you know something of the de Gray family.

take a look...

Mark Hill is an Antiques Roadshow and Millers Guide expert who recently gave me some advice on which books to buy for helping attribute studio pottery marks. As well as publishing his own books, about West German pottery (Fat Lava) and modern art glass, he has a blog of his own. Do pay him a visit! p.s i just love that he's put a link to the Scissor Sisters on his site, "just because".

Deco Chinoiserie

Chinoiserie designs - that is, designs which use 'Chinese' / oriental themes have been popular for many centuries in the West. The trend has come and gone over the years and here is an example of an Art Deco period chinoiserie design. Bishop & Stonier did a number of designs on a black background at this time and it shows off the other really pretty colours in the pattern. This jug has just joined my collection and is wonderful for floral displays because of the wide neck. It would have originally have been part of a wash set, so if you happen to have a matching bowl at home, do get in touch! The hand coloured enamels are really very charming and are infact exactly the same pallette as a vase in my collection which I blogged a few years ago. On ebay this week is a bowl from the same period and same pattern, but a different colour palette. The shape of this bowl seems to crop up a lot at this time, with similar pieces produced by many different factories - i personally have seen shapes similar by Carter Stabler Adams (early Poole), Rialto ware, Hancocks, Cauldon to name a few.

BBC Homes and Antiques Magazine - hurray for technology!

I have been an absolute devotee of the BBC's Homes & Antiques magazine for several years now and have a huge pile of back issues by my bed for some bedtime flicking. Infact, it's the only magazine that once it enters my flat, it never leaves again - unlike others such as House & Garden which gets recycled after a few weeks. I occasionally visit the website, but hadn't paid much attention to it, assuming it was just a brief summary site of the printed magazine. What I hadn't discovered until this evening, was that you can search back issues and Antiques Roadshow programmes for valuations of your chosen subject or maker. On searching for Stonier I found that in 1990 someone had taken their mothers collection of Oriental inspired plates by non other than Powell Bishop & Stonier to be valued. Whilst I was mightily miffed that I was NOT the first person to take PB&S along to a roadshow, and that actually someone had beaten me to the line in getting a piece filmed :-( , i was still thrilled to see that there was some credit given to this fab factory.

On the subject of the Antiques Roadshow, I can happily say that I had a dream come true moment on Sunday and appeared in the background as Hilary Kay was being asked about her "What would you save in the event of a fire?" interview. Did you spot me?

Pomegranates - (Punica granatum)

The image of the Pomegranate has a long history in art and design so it's no surprise that Powell Bishop & Stonier would use it in some of their own transfer designs. The popularity of the fruit in artistic circles waxed and wained, but it would be fair to say that at the time this plate was made, it was on the "up". As mentioned in a blog posting a couple of days ago, Moorcroft used the fruit on his pottery, also, William Morris incorporated the fruit in several of his wallpaper and fabric designs and impressionist painters such as Paul Cezanne used it in Still Life studies.

The symbolism of the fruit is varied, but in general it is seen as a symbol of fertility and goodness because of its many seeds - it has held religious connotations in Medievil art and can be found in various depictions of the Madonna & Child. The design of this particular Oriental Ivory plate (below) appears quite traditional in form and layout - a central motif with a foliate border which contains some of the same elements as the middle image. What interests me, however, is how we can see at this period, transfer designs are becoming more and more stylised, almost "graphic" in their qualities - linear. Although this design is a long way off some of the deco fruit and flowers pieces some 35-45 years later, it shows the beginnings of a style that uses 'motif' to represent an idea - in this case, Oriental nature.

learning curve that hit a brick wall

I have recently bought this beautiful studio pottery bowl at a local antiques&collectables fair and no doubt, the keen eyed among you will realise that no, it's not by BISTO (this is becoming a bit of a theme for this blog of late - my apologies if you're a die hard Bishop & Stonier fan and are becoming bored with my forays into more modern territory!). I fell in love with the bowl's shape and texture which reminded me of the work of Hans Coper and Lucie Rie. I say, "reminded", but i have never seen one in the flesh so to speak, only in pictures. But this piece just spoke to me. After purchasing a guide to British Studio Potters Marks and systematically devouring every page, i'm afraid to say that i'm still none the wiser as to who made this bowl. I have drawn up a short list of names where the marks given in the book have some similarity to that on the base of the bowl, but i must admit, i find it difficult to work out from mark books what part of the mark design is raised, incised, impressed etc. Also, on the bowl itself, what bit is part of the mark itself and what ridges of clay are just displaced clay around the potter's seal. So, here it is - perhaps like on previous occasions i could trouble someone to help me out with the attribution. Many thanks.

Pattern

If you are anything like me, you will hold you hand up and say, "my name is Joe Bloggs, and I am addicted to pattern". Strange that I should say that because looking through my wardrobe of mainly plain blues, greys and laterly purples, you would more likely have thought me rather conservative and 'safe' in my design choices. But in my defence, I work for a highstreet fashion chain where the options for suitable uniform are limited to plain colours, basic stripes and muted checks. By the time i get home and slob out, it's more likely i'll slip on a comfortable pair of jogging bottoms than a fancy paisley number, so pattern has been restricted to other areas of my life - wallpaper, cushions, curtains, ceramics. I have just added another ginger jar to my collection and thought i'd share with you the fabulous oriental inspired design. I use the word "oriental" advisedly because it conjures up images of a vast land mass with a myriad of cultures all jostling for attention. Most often for Western ceramic design, Oriental has meant coming from or inspired by China and Japan - most notably with Blue & White pottery & porcelain. But the Indian subcontinent too has had an impact on Western design as cultures and colonial powers clashed and then merged. Asia's influence has identifiably been felt in textiles design - Paisley type patterns were made hugely popular in the late 19th / early 20th century because of retailers like Liberty's. Although this is not a Paisley design, there is something of that trend in this piece which incorporates fruits like pomegranates, leaves and flowers (Moorcroft collectors will know how popular these motifs were at that time). Added to the printed design are the vibrant, Asian influenced colours. These colours can be found on a variety of other BISTO designs and their combination on this piece is particularly pleasing.

More Fuji Yama

Arrived this week was another Fuji Yama patterned Flow Blue vase. As you'll know, i'm a complete-ist and like having groups of things, in this case, all the shapes produced with the same pattern. I was reminded of a comment my partner made about a section of his book collection: Barnett Freedman illustrated covers, he said that "two is a pair, three is a collection". So, it looks like i may need to find one more!

Kensington P.B

There are various ways in which I search for Powell Bishop & Stonier items on the internet, and particularly on internet auction sights. One way is with the letters "p&b" in the pottery and porcelain section. There are usually several other things that come up alongside Powell & Bishop when doing this kind of search: Quimper, Limoges, Pinder Bourne, and Price Kensington Bros pottery which is sometimes marked as K.P.B. To add to the confusion, Powell Bishop & Stonier produced wares with a pattern they called "Kensington" so you need to sift through quite a bit to find the ones you want. When I was thinking about this confusion and cogitating a blog posting on the subject, i checked the picture files saved on my computer and found several with the pattern name of "Kensington", but bizarrely they're not the same. In short, i don't know how/why i've saved them with the same pattern name, when they are clearly not the same patterns. Perhaps this was how they were described on the sites i took the pics from. To have different patterns using the same name is not unheard of across different manufacturers - as mentioned previously, "NANKIN" was used as a pattern name by several potteries. But to hear of one factory using a pattern name over and over, except with actually different patterns would be very odd. Any ideas? Maybe it's simply a slip up in my admininstration!

HELP NEEDED! Celadon ?

Ok, so this is another non-PB&S collection piece that has snuck its way onto my shelves and into a blog posting. The thing is, I need some help with identifying this one and after the success i had with my Dianne Cross vase (thanks Archimandrill), i thought i'd put this one "out there" to see if anyone can help!? It may just be modern-ish, or even an attempt at fakery, but my hope is that this is more than it appears to be. It is very simple in form and colour - kind of a light grey - but that may actually be an indication of its true identification. I'm hoping it will turn out to be a piece of old (very old?) Chinese Celadon ware. Certainly, the crackling of the glaze is typical of Celadon wares, and although unusual because it's grey and not green, the colour is within the realms of possibility for Celadon. The shape, is very simple and striking, like much of early Chinese ceramics - bit it's quite tall, so i don't know if it's just TOO tall to be the genuine article. There are no markings or indication of date. There is a small chip at the base rim, which bizarrely, has been glazed over rather than the potter throwing the pot away. In fact, the glaze is so thick towards the bottom of the vessel that you can't even feel the chip because the glaze pools to fill it. The base is glazed within the circle of the bottom wheel rim. The crackles are not uniform in colour, some are quite dark, and on close inspection you can see small bubbles in areas of the glaze. All this info is given because i'm hoping it will help someone identify this piece for me and put my mind out of it's ignorant misery! Where is David Battie when you need him? ( or Lars Tharp - he's a wizard of the Oriental stuff too).

Ru Ware? i wish....Guan ware? who knows, "i know nutting"