Antique & Decorative Ceramics

There has been a pottery at the small Welsh town of Ewenny since 1610, the area around being, at the time, a fertile source of clay. In the early 1800s Evan Jenkins married Mary, the daughter of then owner John Morgan, and this began a period of ownership by the Jenkins family which continues today, the studio and shop being run by Alun Jenkins and his daughter Caitlin, who is the eighth generation member of the business. Their mark can be seen at ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p157). Production has tended to concentrate on modest utilitarian items, hand potted and finished with the distinctive glazes for which the studio is known which involve dipping the pot in one glaze adding another with the splash technique and firing the item so that the two glazes fuse. The effects seen on this jug are typical of their work as is also the clear evidence of hand throwing. Ewenny pieces are made and sold today, but the current catalogue does not list items exactly similar to this, so a late twentieth century dating is the most likely.

There has been a pottery at the small Welsh town of Ewenny since 1610, the area around being, at the time, a fertile source of clay. In the early 1800s Evan Jenkins married Mary, the daughter of then owner John Morgan, and this began a period of ownership by the Jenkins family which continues today, the studio and shop being run by Alun Jenkins and his daughter Caitlin, who is the eighth generation member of the business. Their mark can be seen at ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p157). Production has tended to concentrate on modest utilitarian items, hand potted and finished with the distinctive glazes for which the studio is known which involve dipping the pot in one glaze adding another with the splash technique and firing the item so that the two glazes fuse. The effects seen on this beaker are typical of their work as is also the clear evidence of hand throwing. Ewenny pieces are made and sold today, but the current catalogue does not list items exactly similar to this, so a late twentieth century dating is the most likely.

There has been a pottery at the small Welsh town of Ewenny since 1610, the area around being, at the time, a fertile source of clay. In the early 1800s Evan Jenkins married Mary, the daughter of then owner John Morgan, and this began a period of ownership by the Jenkins family which continues today, the studio and shop being run by Alun Jenkins and his daughter Caitlin, who is the eighth generation member of the business. Their mark can be seen at ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p157). Production has tended to concentrate on modest utilitarian items, hand potted and finished with the distinctive glazes for which the studio is known which involve dipping the pot in one glaze adding another with the splash technique and firing the item so that the two glazes fuse. The effects seen on this vase are typical of their work as is also the clear evidence of hand throwing. Ewenny pieces are made and sold today, but the current catalogue does not list items exactly similar to this, so a late twentieth century dating is the most likely.

Broadstairs Pottery was founded by David White in 1968 as a successor to an earlier firm Thanet Pottery. For the mark, see ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p534). White worked there with assistants, some of whose initials appear on the pieces produced, until 1983 when he closed to business to concentrate on his own work, an example of which can be seen elsewhere in this sale. Both the incised geometric bands and the pronounced ridging effects are hallmarks of the firm’s output and this bowl and cover, marked only with the factory name, is a classic example of its productions.

The mark is for David James White (1934-2011) who established Broadstairs Pottery with his wife in 1978 (see lot XXXX) and then sold this in 1983 to concentrate on his own work which focused on high-fired porcelain decorated with a blend of crackle glazes in a range of colours with a high sophistication of technique, see ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p534). This vessel, a form he produced in a variety of colourings of which this is perhaps one of the most pleasing, is an excellent example of his work which rivals some of the best creations of earlier Chinese potters in the standard of finish achieved.