Product Description
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 / Linthorpe, Rare Aesthetic Movement “Persian” jug 1879
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
HUKIN & HEATH Birmingham, England
“Crow’s foot” spoon warmer 1878
Silver-plate
Marks: H&H, 2362
Two other examples are recorded but with complex Victorican engraving.
Illustrated: Christopher Dresser and Japan, exh. cat. ed. by Koriyami City Museum of Art, Brain Trust Inc. (Koriyami 2002), cat. no. 114, p. 138; Christopher Dresser, ein Viktorianischer Designer, 1834-1904, (Cologne: Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Köln, 1981) cat. no. 15; Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 33.
H: 4 3/4” x W: 7”
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
JAMES DIXON & SONS Sheffield, England
Teaset 1880
Sterling silver
Marks: JD&S, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature), 2272,
Sheffield assay marks for 1880 (“P” in an octagonal rectangle), Reg. mark for November 25, 1880
Illustrated: J. Dixon & Sons’ 1885 catalogue, p. 96.
Teapot illustrated: Christopher Dresser, by Widar Halén (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990), illus. 204, p. 181.
Teaset illustrated: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 30/31.
Teapot: H: 4” x W: 7 ¼” ; Sugar bowl: H: 2 3/4” ; Creamer: H: 3 1/8”
Plated teapot in the permanent collection of the British Museum, London. Extremely rare model.
GEORGE JAKOB HUNZINGER (1835-1898) Germany/ USA
Chair 1876
Yellow and blue painted elaborately turned wood, blue thread woven covered metal band mesh seat (original condition)
Marks: George Hunzinger Patent 1876
Illustrated: The Furniture of George Hunzinger, Invention and Innovation in Nineteenth-Century America, Barry R. Harwood (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1997) p.103.
H: 32″ x D: 17″ x W: 20″
GEORGE JAKOB HUNZINGER (1835-18989) USA
George Hunzinger emigrated in the 1850s from the Black Forest region of Germany where his family had worked as cabinetmakers since the 17th century. Settling in New York, he joined a community of 3,000 German furniture makers but soon distinguished himself as a maker of patent furniture and “fancy chairs”. Hunzinger’s innovative designs are often associated with the development of the Aesthetic Movement in America. By the 1870s, his chairs were sought after by many Americans as accent pieces for their parlors. The woven mesh or upholstery of these innovative chairs follows the original intention of the maker and the turned frame has an avant-garde, colorful and rather contemporary feeling painted in a combination of a rich ochre yellow and cobalt blue, a color combo that was highly prized for it’s eccentricity in Victorian America.
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
JAMES COUPER & SONS Glasgow, Scotland
“Clutha” vase c. 1890
Blown glass with a strawberry red and green swirl design and internal bubbles
Marks: CLUTHA DESIGNED BY CD REGISTERED (acid etched)
Illustrated: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 72/73
H: 3 1/4″