A fine Ruskin delphinium blue crystalline lustre eggshell footed bowl,
Impressed and dated : RUSKIN ENGLAND 1922
Printed factory mark : RUSKIN ENGLAND
Diameter : 19.5cm
Height : 8.5cm
Excellent condition.
Edward Richard Taylor RBSA (1838-1911) was an English Artist, Educator who was the Principal at both The Birmingham School of Art and The Lincoln School of Art and was influential in the Arts and Crafts movement. In 1898 he founded Ruskin Pottery, named for the artist, writer and critic John Ruskin, at Smethwick, near Birmingham, for his son William Howson Taylor (1876-1935) to run.
The company experimented with glazes, producing results that were quite different from anything seen before. The pottery was exhibited at local and international fine art exhibitions. It was awarded a "grand prize" in 1904 at the St Louis International Exhibition , and further awards at other international exhibitions including Milan 1906, Christchurch 1907, London 1908, Brussels 1910, Turin 1911 and Ghent 1913.
The recipes for the glazes were kept secret, and when William Howson Taylor died in 1935, under his instruction the studio closed and the formulae for the glazes, the equipment and all the pottery documentation were deliberately destroyed, so that the unique Ruskin products could never be replicated.