CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
LINTHORPE ART POTTERY, Middlesbrough
HENRY TOOTH Artistic Manager Linthorpe (1842-1918) UK

“Persian” jug 1879-1882

Glazed earthenware

Marks: LINTHORPE, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature),
HT, no. 344

Illustrated: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhibition catalogue Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 76.

H: 8 3/4″

Rare model.

The contrasts in Dresser’s designs for different materials showed how his approach to design was also shaped by the properties and nature of a material. In 1879 Dresser was appointed art director at the newly established Linthorpe pottery, near Middlesbrough. Founded by John Harrison, a local businessman, the pottery’s aim was to use local clay to provide jobs for local men. Dresser’s design for the moulds for the pottery were inspired by a wide range of cultures from Japan, Peru, Mexico, Morocco and Ancient British forms. These very striking pieces, with the metal oxides in the complex and innovative glazes providing the only decoration. All of his designs were impressed with a facsimile signature. When Linthorpe closed in 1889, its moulds were acquired by a rival, Ault Pottery in Derbyshire. In 1893, Dresser signed a contract with Ault for new designs specifying that each pot should be marked with his facsimile signature.

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK

HEATH & MIDDLETON   Birmingham, England

Petite claret jug   1887

Sterling silver mounts with hinged covers to both top and spout, glass, ebony handle

Marks: JTH & JHM in a four-lobed cartouche, London assay marks for 1887 (“M” in a shield), Vienna import mark (conjoined AV in a 6-sided cartouche)

Illustrated: Industrial Design Unikate Serienerzeugnisse, Die Neue Sammlung ein neuer Museumstyp des 20. Jahrhunderts, Hans Wichmann (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1985), p. 131; Christopher Dresser, ein Viktorianischer Designer, 1834-1904 (Cologne: Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Köln, 1981), p. 73, ill. 86, cat. no. 23; Industrial Design, John Heskett (New York and Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 24, illus. 9; Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, Michael Collins (London: Camden Arts Centre, 1979), p. 171, cat.no.12.

H: 6” x Dia: 4”

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER  (1834-1904)  UK
LINTHORPE ART POTTERY, Middlesbrough, England
HENRY TOOTH Artistic Manager Linthorpe (1842-1918) UK

“Flaring Lip” Pitcher   1879-1882

Glazed earthenware

Marks: LINTHORPE, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature),
HT, no. 346

Illustrated:  Christopher Dresser, by  Widar Halén (Oxford:  Phaidon, 1990), illus. 185, p.163; Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhibition catalogue Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 76.

H: 9 3/4″

The contrasts in Dresser’s designs for different materials showed how his approach to design was also shaped by the properties and nature of a material. In 1879 Dresser was appointed art director at the newly established Linthorpe pottery, near Middlesbrough. Founded by John Harrison, a local businessman, the pottery’s aim was to use local clay to provide jobs for local men. Dresser’s design for the moulds for the pottery were inspired by a wide range of cultures from Japan, Peru, Mexico, Morocco and Ancient British forms. These very striking pieces, with the metal oxides in the complex and innovative glazes providing the only decoration. All of his designs were impressed with a facsimile signature. When Linthorpe closed in 1889, its moulds were acquired by a rival, Ault Pottery in Derbyshire. In 1893, Dresser signed a contract with Ault for new designs specifying that each pot should be marked with his facsimile signature.

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER  (1834-1904)  UK
JAMES DIXON & SONS Sheffield, England

“Triple Arch” square handle toast rack c.1881

Silver-plate

Marks: JD&S (stamped), Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature), EP, #67, diamond or clover touchmark

Illustrated: 1885 Dixon catalogue, p. 95

For more information see: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998); Charles Handley-Read, “High Victorian Design:  An Illustrated Commentary” in ‘Design 1860-1960’ sixth conference report of the Victorian Society (London, 1968); Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Art: The Handley-Read Collection, ed. Simon Jervis (London:  Diploma Galleries,1972); Christopher Dresser:  pottery, glass, metalwork, (London:  The Fine Arts Society Ltd., 1972); Isabelle Anscombe & Charlotte Gere, Arts & Crafts in Britain and America (New York:  Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1978); Truth, Beauty and Design, Victorian, Edwardian and later Decorative Art (London:  Fischer Fine Art Limited),; A Thing of Beauty:  Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Arts & Crafts Movement and Aesthetic Movement Objects in Atlanta Collections (Atlanta, GA:  The High Museum of Art, 1980), cat. no. M2; Widar Halén, Christopher Dresser (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990),; Judy Rudoe, Decorative Arts 1850-1950:  A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1991),; Gerda Breuer, Von Morris bis Mackintosh – Reformbewegung zwischen Kunstgewerbe und Sozialutopie,  Arts and Crafts (Darmstadt: Institut Mathildenhöhe, 1994/95); “The Silver Designs of Dr. Christopher Dresser,” Shirley Bury, Apollo (December, 1962);

Extremely rare model

H: 4 1/2″ x D: 4 1/2″ x W: 6 1/2″