Antique Seljuk ceramics

Ceramic tiles made in 12th and 13th century in empire of Seljuq Turks, who overrun persia, Iraq, Syria and Asia Minor. Tiles are known from the Seljuq period, which use the Minai technique. The technique involved the usage of seven colors, with blue, green and turquoise applied on an underglaze and fired. Other colors such as yellow, red, white, black and sometimes gilt were then applied on top of this, and re-fired at a lower temperature.
  

Although tiles are very common in Seljuk architecture, ceramic ware was much less common in that period. Finds in recent years have shed light on this subject which include the extensive discoveries of ceramic fragments found during excavations carried out at Kubadabad, Kalehisar near Alacahöyük, Ahlat, Eskikahta, Adiyaman (Samsat), Korucutepe near Elaziğ and in the Keban and Atatürk dam areas in southeast Anatolia. In these excavations, a large number of vases, ewers, bowls, plates, decanters and similar artifacts in unglazed, reddish, greyish and yellowish soft clay were discovered. Some were painted with grey or reddish stripes and had grooves and embossed crenated strips. Large, unglazed, earthenware jars, decorated with figures are on display at museums in Diyarbakir, Mardin, Adiyaman and in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul. These objects are decorated using the barbotine technique with rosette, animal and foliate motifs.

What are pottery and porcelain?

What is pottery?

Pottery includes anything made from baked clay and may be made from a number of different materials. Earthenwares and stonewares can be covered in many different glazes.

•     An earthenware body may e red-brown, buff, white or grey 
•   The tin glaze chips easily.
•    Stoneware can be thinly potted. 
•    Stoneware is fired at higher temperature and does not need a glaze to make it watertight.
•   The fired body can be dark grey, red, white or sand-coloured.

 

British and American Studio Wares

The reaction against the mass-produced pottery and porcelain of the early Victorian age came to a head after the Great Exhibition of 1851. Inspired by the writings of John Ruskin, small groups of artisans formed art union groups and thus paved the way for the Arts and Crafts Movement. Led by William Morris in England, its members sought to return to the values of the medieval guild system where hand-made objects were produced in small numbers by groups of dedicated craftsmen.

 

Early Lambeth Doulton 

 

On the whole, their ideas proved commercially unworkable, but many art potteries that started up at this time proved more successful and continued producing throughout the 19th and into the 20th century. Probably the largest commercial enterprise making hand-decorated stoneware and pottery was the Lambeth studios of Doulton.

The object of the day: Royal Doulton loving cup

Royal Doulton loving cup, Captain Cook
designed by Charles Noke & Harry Fenton. Issued 1933 
limited edition of 350.

Size: 9.25"H

This loving-cup commemorates Captain Cook's landing on Botany Bay: on one side a party of crewmen are stepping ashore from a longboat, on the other Cook surveys the interior accompanied by his officers. The handles take the form of coconut palms.

Most of the loving cups produced featured many of the characters who were later portrayed as character jugs, many of which reflecting Noke's interest in literature, particularly the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. Folk heroes, whether real or fictitious, are inevitably colorful characters and thus eminently suitable as subject matter for these lively jugs. It is the attention to detail and overall presentation that enhances this range of prestige jugs, and together with skillfully modeled decoration and rich colors schemes, makes them admired among collectors today. These cups were produced for a brief period during the 1930s by Charles Noke and Harry Fenton, before the successful launch of character jugs. They were released in limited editions of only 300 to 1,000 pieces, some of which were never completed, making them highly collectable and difficult to find. These were the very first limited edition pieces produced by Royal Doulton.

Price: $6,000.00 

Ceramic glaze

A glaze is a glossy or glassy film that is fused to the ceramic body during firing. It is usually formed from powdered minerals added to water and washed or painted over the object. A glaze can be shiny or matt, hard or soft
After application, the ceramic is fired, and the powdered coating melts into a hard, glass-like coating. A ceramic glaze is usually for decoration or protection and most glazes can be considered specialised forms of glass.
Glazing is functionally important for earthenware vessels, which without it would be unsuitable for holding liquids. In addition to the functional aspects, aesthetic forms include a smooth pleasing surface, the degree of gloss and variegation, and finished color.
Ceramic glazes can also enhance an underlying design or texture which can be the natural texture of the clay or an inscribed, carved or painted design.

Read more about Collecting Antique Ceramics Pottery and Porcelain by www.antique-marks.com

A glaze is a glossy or glassy film that is fused to the ceramic body during firing. It is usually formed from powdered minerals added to water and washed or painted over the object. A glaze can be shiny or matt, hard or soft
After application, the ceramic is fired, and the powdered coating melts into a hard, glass-like coating. A ceramic glaze is usually for decoration or protection and most glazes can be considered specialised forms of glass.
Glazing is functionally important for earthenware vessels, which without it would be unsuitable for holding liquids. In addition to the functional aspects, aesthetic forms include a smooth pleasing surface, the degree of gloss and variegation, and finished color.
Ceramic glazes can also enhance an underlying design or texture which can be the natural texture of the clay or an inscribed, carved or painted design.

Read more about Collecting Antique Ceramics Pottery and Porcelain by www.antique-marks.com

A glaze is a glossy or glassy film that is fused to the ceramic body during firing. It is usually formed from powdered minerals added to water and washed or painted over the object. A glaze can be shiny or matt, hard or soft
After application, the ceramic is fired, and the powdered coating melts into a hard, glass-like coating. A ceramic glaze is usually for decoration or protection and most glazes can be considered specialised forms of glass.
Glazing is functionally important for earthenware vessels, which without it would be unsuitable for holding liquids. In addition to the functional aspects, aesthetic forms include a smooth pleasing surface, the degree of gloss and variegation, and finished color.
Ceramic glazes can also enhance an underlying design or texture which can be the natural texture of the clay or an inscribed, carved or painted design.

Read more about Collecting Antique Ceramics Pottery and Porcelain by www.antique-marks.com

A glaze is a glossy or glassy film that is fused to the ceramic body during firing. It is usually formed from powdered minerals added to water and washed or painted over the object. A glaze can be shiny or matt, hard or soft
After application, the ceramic is fired, and the powdered coating melts into a hard, glass-like coating. A ceramic glaze is usually for decoration or protection and most glazes can be considered specialised forms of glass.

Tin glazed Italian plate

Glazing is functionally important for earthenware vessels, which without it would be unsuitable for holding liquids. In addition to the functional aspects, aesthetic forms include a smooth pleasing surface, the degree of gloss and variegation, and finished color.
Ceramic glazes can also enhance an underlying design or texture which can be the natural texture of the clay or an inscribed, carved or painted design.

Vienna porcelain

A Vienna Miniature Cup and Saucer c.1900

A Vienna Miniature Porcelain Cup and Saucer c.1900, the cup gilded inside, decorated with a central cartouche with finely hand-painted rural scene on puce ground and gilt.
Dimensions: cup 4.5cm diam x 2.5cm high, saucer 7cm diam. Marks:banded shield mark in underglaze blue.
Excellent condition.

Price: £115

Colours in Continental porcelain and pottery

Certain colours are associated with particular factories or periods. Some rare colours increase value of the piece. Here are a few examples:

Bleu Celeste, Sèvres

The care of antique porcelain and pottery

Cleaning the porcelain pottery until it is shiny and spotless is a must prior to auction time. For most people in the auction, the visual image of the pottery is what will prove to be its best selling point. By effectively and thoroughly cleaning the pottery, the visual allure of the items will be boosted significantly. That means the potential to land a higher sale price will be increased.

English "Delftware" pottery

An English delft dated portrait charger of Charles II

Dated 1662.

Estimate: $120,000-180,000.

Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2010

The tradition of tin glazed earthenware has strong links with the industry of 'delftware' in Holland and as such is often referred to as 'English delft'. The earliest known producers in England of the highly sought after tin glazed pottery were immigrants from Antwerp, first settling in Norwich in 1567 then later moving to Alder Gate London where there is record of a pottery with six more Flemish potters under employment.

The object of the day: "Sailor's Farewell" pitcher

Pink Luster Pottery Pitcher 'Sailors Farewell'. ( Sunerland c. 1840 )

Medium
pink splash lustre luster pottery

Dimensions:
9.50inch high (24.13 cm)

Description / Expertise
Antique pottery pitcher from the North East of England.
Classic pink lustre decoration with undergalze transfer prints decorated with enamel colors.

Price GBP 1150.00 (Pound Sterling)

Cider mugs collection

When ceramicist and academic Kate Wilson moved to Somerset seven years ago, she knew cider would play a part in her life. “You can’t be here long without becoming aware of the ‘cultural activities’ relating to cider,” she laughs. But what she didn’t realise was just how big a part it would play.
“I’d just finished my masters in ceramics when I heard that Gaymers (now the Shepton Mallet Cider Mill) had a cider mug collection,” she says. “I got in touch with them, hoping it might inspire my making – but as soon as I saw what they had, I realised it would make the most fantastic research project.”

The object of the day: The King George V toby

The King George V toby is the largest, most desireable, of a numbered set of World War I leaders made by the Wilkinson Royal Staffordshire Pottery Company, and was limited to 1,000 sets.

They were designed by Carruthers Gould, whose signature appears on the base, but are generally referred to as Wilkinsons. 

This one is 587A (the A designates that it is King George V).

Dimensions: 

12.5-inches high

5.75-inches wide

6-inches deep

Designer: Gabriel Argy-Rousseau

Joseph-Gabriel Rousseau was born in a small village outside of Chartres to a farming family, Rousseau became interested in drawing at a very early age. He was also intensely interested in physics and chemistry, first attending Ecole Breguet, and in 1902 Ecole de Sèvres, where he meet the son of pâte-de-verre pioneer Henri Cros.

Following his graduation in 1906 Rousseau took the title of “engineer-ceramist” and worked in a research laboratory developing dental porcelain before devoting his focus exclusively to the art of pâte-de-verre. In 1913 he married Marianne Argyriadès, a highly cultured woman of Greek descent who fueled Rousseau’s interest in Greek and Classical art. After his marriage Rousseau added the first four letters of his wife’s maiden name “a-r-g-y” in homage to her cultural, emotional, and domestic support, signing his name “Argy-Rousseau” for the remainder of his artistic career.
In 1921 Argy-Rousseau met gallery and glass works owner Gustave Moser-Millot and established the Société Anonyme des Pâtes de Verre d’Argy-Rousseau. The firm developed their pâte-de-verre technique for 6 months, built extensive new workshops and furnaces, trained 20 workers, and in 1923 began producing regular commissioned work.

Gaudy Welsh pottery

The name Gaudy Welsh entered the pottery collectors vocabulary and the antique world when Professor Howard Williams mentioned it in his 1978 publication. He also standardised many of the names ascribed to patterns we now associate with Gaudy Welsh Pottery. Gaudy Welsh, a name which describes perfectly the hand-painted decoration applied primarily to tea sets, bowls and jugs,

Made in both England and Wales between 1820 and 1860, the earthenware, creamware, ironstone and bone china is decorated in charming patterns picked out in underglaze cobalt blue, often in panels, rust or burnt orange and copper lustre, while floral decoration often included pink lustre, green and yellow, all on a white background.

Troika pottery

Troika Pottery is a really something. It was initially met with great scepticism when it was first established in the Cornish coastal town of St. Ives. The failure for the new venture was immediately predicted, giving it just three months to survive. The company’s unconventional ceramics, which design was opposite the fashion of the time have a things to think about, but concerns were proved unfounded when Troika was snapped up by discerning London stores such as Heal’s and Liberty’s, and became world-known.
The company was founded in 1963 by sculptor Leslie Illsley, potter Benny Sirota and architect Jan Thompson, who chose the Russian name ‘troika’ to represent the team of three. Despite initial successes, Thompson walked away from the enterprise after two years, leaving the other two to build the business.

The object of the day: Moorecroft "Brindleys Canal"

Designer: Kerry Goodwin

Limited Editon 100.

Cost: £1175.00

Rivers of pots flow from Staffordshire potbanks, and a multitude of bottle ovens belch out smoke. A small boy is lost amongst the mass of productivity. His guardians stand momentarily in their 1930’s attire, adding a human element of colour to the industrial landscape along the Trent and Mersey canal where barges ply their cargoes to and fro. This landmark design comes in a limited edition of 100 pieces.