Ruskin Pottery

A considerable amount of interest has been expressed in the jewellery made using Ruskin Pottery enamels. The opportunity has been taken to study the use of these enamels both by jewellery manufacturers and by amateur makers in the often home-based Arts and Crafts environment. Judging by the number of new

A Ruskin Pottery innovation was the introduction of elaborate pottery stands for their vases and bowls, though pottery stands are not the creation of Ruskin Pottery as there are eighteenth century Chinese examples. The earliest Ruskin stand recorded is of 1912, which bears a resemblance to the wooden stands that

In the early years of the Ruskin Pottery table wares were the mainstay of production along with tiles. An article written towards the end of the pottery’s life stated that ‘…at first the cups and saucers were made, followed by tiles of distinctive design and colours.’ and a number of

It seems that Howson Taylor decided to design a new range wares to supplement and eventually replace the Ruskin Pottery’s successful, standard lustre range. The fashion for lustre wares was in decline by the mid 1920s and so it is significant that the last year of major lustre forms at

Scent Bottle Production at the Factory The Ruskin Pottery made scent bottles from its early years when three designed for metal mounting were illustrated in their 1905 catalogue usually soufflé in glaze. A small number of lustre items date to the First World War period. The main production was in

The Ruskin Pottery reflected the development of domestic lighting in the early twentieth century. Their 1905 catalogue included two stands for oil lamps (No. 60 13 1/2 inches high and No.65 9 1/2 inches high). Neither are known in examples and they were quickly deleted from the firm’s catalogue. Candlesticks

In its early years the Ruskin Pottery made a number of small items which attracted the attention of some of the metal working firms, principally Liberty & Co. but also the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft, Syner & Beddoes and Levi & Salaman. The small pieces in the Ruskin early catalogue

Designs Some of the earliest Ruskin Pottery souffle glazed items have decoration. Several of the pieces submitted to the V&A museum in 1901 are decorated. The firm’s 1905 catalogue stated that when pattern was used it was hand painted and kept subordinate, no attempt being made to be painted realistically,

1898-1900 Early marks mainly scissors or Taylor stamp on all ‘tocky’ body. WHT stamp mark introduced towards the end of 1900. 1901-1904 White body introduced with marks as above. 1905-1919 White body with exceptions from 1905 and the war period. Oval mark was dropped in 1909 due to imitation by