Pilkington’s Tile & Pottery Company was founded in 1891 at Clifton, near Salford, Greater Manchester. William Burton, previously a chemist with Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, was employed as manager and guided the company through its early years until 1915. He was joined by his brother Joseph, and together they developed the glazes for which the company became famous.
The first large exhibition of Pilkingtons Lancastrian Pottery was held at the Graves Gallery in London in 1904, and two years later the first of the lustre wares were shown at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition in London. The firm employed some of the leading designers of the day for these special wares including Lewis F. Day, C.F.A. Voysey and Walter Crane, as well as designs from their own decorators including Richard Joyce, Gordon Forsyth and William S. Mycock.
The firm was awarded the Royal Warrant in 1913, after which the range was known as Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian.
LOT 187 | WALTER CRANE (1845-1915, DESIGNER) & RICHARD JOYCE (1873-1931, DECORATOR) |
Designed by Walter Crane and decorated by Richard Joyce, this beautifully crafted charger is inscribed CHEVALIER SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE with the designer’s cypher on the rim and the designer’s and artist’s cyphers on the back.
From The John Scott Collection, this charger was exhibited in London twice, at an exhibition of Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian Pottery in 1980 at Richard Dennis in London and in 2014 at The Fine Art Society in London in an exhibition on The John Scott Collection: British Art Pottery.
LOT 177 | GORDON FORSYTH (1879-1952) | FOR PILKINGTON'S TILE & POTTERY CO. |
This impressive vase is one of the largest pieces ever produced by the factory in lustre glazes.
Originally from the Harriman Judd Collection of British Art Pottery, the vase is decorated with a frieze of cockerels on the neck and the figure of Apollo riding a chariot through the clouds pulled by six horses on the body.