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Lustre jar & cover: C.48 & A-1972

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Lustre jar & cover

Maker(s)

Factory: Pilkington’s Tile and Pottery Company
Designer and decorator: Mycock, William, S.

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware jar and cover with lustre decoration

Barrel-shaped jar on a small foot-rim, with short neck and a fitted, slightly convex, cover. Thrown, white earthenware, the exterior completely covered with a dark blue lustre ground, tinged with copper-gold. The barrel body is decorated with four rows of copper, six-petalled rosette flowers. There is a further row of these around the sides of the cover, the top of which has a central, outline, design of a larger rosette, in a silver-copper coloured lustre. The inside of the lid is painted in blue lustre. The underside is flat and covered with copper-gold lustre.

Notes

History note: From the Charles and Lavinia Handley-Read Collection

Legal notes

Bought with assistance from the Perceval Fund and the V&A Grant in Aid Fund

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 14.4 cm
Diameter: 5.625 cm
Height: 16.5 cm
Height: 6.5 in

Place(s) associated

  • Clifton ⪼ Manchester ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought by Stainton, Thomas

Dating

20th Century, Early
Production date: circa AD 1916

Note

Pilkington’s Tile and Pottery Company, formed in 1891/92, was one of the largest producers of decorative tiles. Lancastrian Pottery was introduced in 1904, using simple classical shapes and decorated with innovative coloured glaze effects. Designs were traced and pounced onto the pots, and the decorator was encouraged to add his individuality to that of the designer, such that no two pieces were identical. Painted lustre pottery was produced in quantity from 1906 until 1928. Pilkington’s gained a Royal Warrant in 1913, but tile manufacture dominated production after the First World War, and pottery production ceased in 1938.

The number 3151 denotes the shape. Pilkington’s introduced numbers, starting with 2001, in 1905. Numbers up to 3258 have been recorded (see Cross).

William Salter Mycock (b.1872), worked for Wedgwood and as a jobbing artist before joining Pilkington’s from 1894 until 1938, originally as a tile decorator, and in the pottery from c.1906. His own designs favoured heraldry, flora, birds and ships and sometimes included gothic lettering; he also decorated work with designs by other artists, including Walter Crane. Mycock was also a water-colour painter, interested in music and literature, and a follower of Ruskin. An archive of his design sketches and source material is held by Swinton and Pendlebury Public Library.

School or Style

Art Pottery

Components of the work

Decoration composed of lustre

Materials used in production

White earthenware

Techniques used in production

Throwing : Thrown earthenware, in two parts, glazed and painted with lustre
Painting
Lustring
Glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: WSM monogram, enclosed in a wreath
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Painted in gold lustre
  • Type: Mark
  • Text: 3151
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Impressed and painted in gold lustre
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: rosette mark with words below

  • Text: ROYAL /LANCASTRIAN / ENGLAND
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Impressed, under glaze
  • Type: Mark
  • Text: part of factory logo surrounded by ‘LANCASTRIAN’
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Circular paper label, red, printed in gold (fragment)
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.48 & A-1972
Primary reference Number: 75239
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Lustre jar & cover" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75239 Accessed: 2024-12-19 00:02:58

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75239 |title=Lustre jar & cover |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-19 00:02:58|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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