Description:
English "Leeds Revival", creamware press-molded figure group of a classically-draped Venus (also known as Charity) standing with both hands clutching a pair of lovebirds against her breast; Cupid, who is standing by her feet, extends his left arm against Venus' gown and holds a bow against his chest with his left hand; a dolphin is pressed to her lower right side with most of its molded body and tail scrolling up the back of the figure; and a square base with a unglazed rim and rough hollow interior with a definite greyish cast in its glazing. This figure of Venus, which is also sometimes called "Charity," is smaller than and not as crisply molded as HD 2006.33.106.1; and Peter Walton notes that its unglazed base rim is found on Senior reproductions. In the late 19th and early 20th century, typical 18th century Leeds Pottery creamwares were produced by members of the Senior family, primarily James "Wraith" Senior (c.1854-1909) who worked over time with his sons, George William (1882-1970) and James Jr. (d.1917), and his brother-in-law, potter John Thomas Morton (1875-1956). Morton was an apprentice to James Senior circa 1888-1895, and returned to work with the Seniors from 1907 to circa 1913 when he left to establish his own pottery; according to John Griffin, it is virtually impossible to distinguish between pieces made by Morton when potting on his own in Leeds (who also used the impressed "LEEDS POTTERY" mark before establishing a pottery at Airey Hill, Filey, in 1933) and those produced by the Senior brothers. James Senior made various types of pottery, including slipware and tiles, at different sites until sometime between 1888 and 1895, when he started producing creamwares in an 18th century style, many based on the products and some using the same molds from the Leeds factory of Hartley, Greens & Co.; the Seniors also produced other pieces, particularly pierced wares which were far more elaborate than those produced by Hartley, Greens & Co. Next to the Wedgwood factory, Hartley, Greens & Co. was one of the most successful of the English creamware potteries established in the 18th century, which first published its catalogue or pattern books in 1783 and continued printing them periodically until 1814, with some wares impressed "LEEDS POTTERY." The Senior reproductions often bear that same original impressed "LEEDS POTTERY" mark; the Senior's quality is often more thickly potted than the original, and the glaze often greyer and more thickly applied, which then pooled (often with a green tone) with a very distinct crackled glaze. However, their wares can also be of such high quality that they can be mistaken for the work of earlier factories. Much of the Senior's production was marketed through an antique dealer, William Wood Slee of 30 Duncan Street, Leeds, who claimed to be the manufacturer of "Reproductions of Leeds Pottery." Although it is not known for how many years Slee published a catalogue, the Leeds Museum and Galleries has a copy of an undated Slee catalogue and 1913 price list, in which he states: "The manufacture of Leeds Pottery revived in 1888 by W. W. Slee, employing workmen and using many of the original moulds and patterns obtained from old works." In fact it is now generally believed that he was only selling George Senior's wares such as this Senior Venus figurine named "Charity" (fig. 513) by Slee in his 1913 catalogue. Interestingly, the Slee catalogue also shows covered chestnut bowls, figs. 615, which are not in the original Hartley, Greens & Co. catalogues, but do appear in Josiah Wedgwood's early catalogues as well as the Wedgwood Company's 1920 catalogue that illustrated creamware identical to examples found in its late 18th century catalogues. John Austin, A Twentieth Century Creamware Catalogue, American Ceramic Circle Journal, XI, 2000, p. 37-38.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.33.106.2 |
