One handled vase

This vase was created between 1900 and 1910 at Aller Vale Pottery. The pottery was situated in Kingskerwell, a quiet South Devon village found between Newton Abbot and Torquay. It was bought by 1871 by John Philips, a clay merchant and local philanthropist. Following a devastating fire in 1881, ceramic production shifted from coarse wares such as tile to art pottery. Philips transformed Aller Vale’s output, employing locally trained artisans. By 1900, production included vases, jardinières and tea sets.

Along with the other potteries of South Devon, Aller Vale’s production shows how the artistic movements of the Art and Crafts and the Art Nouveau filtered down from Paris and London to influence the patterns and decorations used by local artisans.

Philips was a supporter of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the ideas of William Morris. 19th century Britain saw the rapid growth of mass-manufacture in new industrial Britain. Machine-dominated production had damaging consequences on both the social conditions for workers and the quality of goods. Many, including Morris, looked to the past in search of more humane working methods and better-quality models of production.

The Arts and Craft movement should be understood not a single style, but as a collection of small communities of craft workers and architects who used traditional production methods with few machines. Such working environments drew on medieval guild systems. Quality craftsmanship, individual creativity and the use of local materials were valued. It was felt that working in this way would improve both craftsmanship and people’s quality of life. Potters working at this time also wanted to raise the status of ceramics to that of fine art, seeing their creations as a means of artistic expression rather than products of big industry. In accordance with the Arts and Crafts tradition, at Aller Vale clay was dug on the site and glazes, paints and slips were made at the pottery.

Art Nouveau style followed on from the Arts and Craft movement. The term Art Nouveau derives from La Maison de l’Art Nouveau, a Parisian gallery opened in 1895, which sold high quality works by contemporary artists and designers. During the late 1890s the Art Nouveau style gradually filtered through to the South Devon potteries. Production responded to public demand by decorating wares in this style, seen in decorations such as flowers entwined in swirling stems and leaves.

In 1901 Aller Vale merged with Watcombe Pottery to become the Royal Aller Vale and Watcombe Pottery Co, producing ceramics until 1962.

This vase is an example of the ‘green and straw’ wares produced at Aller Vale: white bodied earthenware with the upper part of the body covered in rich copper glaze. This example features a single spout and a loop handle. The maker’s mark ‘ALLER VALE’ was impressed onto base, along with the shape number, ‘998’, and the decoration code, ‘G1’.