Christopher Dresser / Linthorpe, Rare Aesthetic Movement Persian jug 1879
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 / Hukin & Heath Aesthetic Movement Adjustable Toast or Letter Rack 1881
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
HUKIN & HEATH Birmingham, England
Adjustable toast or letter rack 1881
Silver-plate (articulated model)
Marks: H&H, 2555, stylized fleur-de-lis touch mark
Illustrated: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhibition catalogue Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 21.
H: 5″ x W: 6 1/2″ x D: 4″
There is another model of this toast /letter rack in the collection of the British Museum, London, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Christopher Dresser / Linthorpe Art Pottery Aesthetic Movement Pitcher 1879-1882
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 / Benham & Froud Rare Aesthetic Movement Copper coffee pot 1888
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
BENHAM & FROUD London, England
Coffee pot 1888
Copper, brass, wood handle and finial
***One of only two known models of this Dresser / Benham & Froud coffee pot.
Marks: maker’s cipher, Reg. no. 114566 for 1888
Only other model known illustrated: Christopher Dresser, by Widar Halén (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990), illus. 192, p. 170 (variant model); Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 66.
Christopher Dresser / Old Hall, Persia Pattern, Aesthetic Movement Dinner Plate c. 1861-1886
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
OLD HALL EARTHENWARE CO. (1861-1886) Staffordshire, UK
“Persia Pattern” dinner plate c. 1861-1886
Overall cream gloss glazed octagonal-shaped earthenware dinner plate from the “Persian” pattern with transfer-printed and over-glazed ornate foliate motif; each corner contains two shallow indentations for condiment use.
Marks: Old Hall and Persia Marks
W: 9 15/16″
The identical plate in the “Persia Pattern” can be found in the collection of the Wolfsonian. A soup plate in the identical “Persia Pattern” can be found in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
Christopher Dresser / Benham & Froud Aesthetic Movement Kettle c. 1885
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
BENHAM & FROUD London, England
Kettle c. 1885
Copper, brass, wood handle and finial
Marks: maker’s cipher
Illustrated: Minor Masters of the XIXth Century: Christopher Dresser, Industrial Designer, by N. Pevsner, (Architectural Review, 1937), p. 184, illus. 1; Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 67.
Thomas Jekyll (attr.) Aesthetic Movement Iron Umbrella or Cane Stand c.1885
THOMAS JEKYLL (attr.) (1827–1881)
BRITISH AESTHETIC MOVEMENT
Umbrella stand c. 1885
Black nickelled and patinated cast and wrought iron,
sunburst detail and decorative fretwork
H: 25 1/4” x W: 13” x D: 9 1/2”
Base W: 9 1/2”
Although he was a successful architect, Jeckyll is best known today for his “epoch-making” designs in metalwork. His architectural practice routinely included the design of gates, railings, and metal fittings for domestic commissions and of coronas, candelabra, and altar rails for ecclesiastical ones. But it was his exhibition pieces for the ironworks firm of Barnard, Bishop & Barnards of Norwich that brought him his greatest renown. His “Norwich Gates” for the 1862 London International Exhibition set in motion the 19th-century wrought iron revival in Great Britain. Subsequent creations, including his “Four Seasons Gates,” exhibited in Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873, and his cast iron pavilion for the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, received substantial praise, in particular for their creative use of Asian principles and motifs. His innovative Anglo-Japanese designs for stoves, stove fronts, fenders, fire irons, and other domestic metalwork were also produced and sold in large numbers. As these designs were both artistic and affordable, they allowed the incorporation of objects of beauty into middle-class homes. He was one of the few figures in the design reform movement in Britain who managed to unite beauty and utility.
A very intricately worked late Victorian or Aesthetic Movement wrought and cast iron tall stand for umbrellas or canes with delicately riveted cross hatch fretwork and curling details and handle motif along with an attached iron base with a sunburst design all in the original black nickel finish.
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