Description:Matt finished green-blue and orange mottled vase, wide lip. Rounded base. Curved sides tapering to narrow neck. Stamped on base: 'England Ruskin 1933'. Y-shaped crack on base. Made by William Howson Taylor at the Ruskin Pottery, Smethwick.
Dimensions: height 112mm, top diameter 57mm, base diameter 78mm.
Edward R. Taylor and his son William Howson Taylor founded the Birmingham Tile and Pottery Works in 1898. The factory was located at 173-174 Oldbury Road, Smethwick. In 1904 the company was renamed after the artist and writer, John Ruskin. The factory produced small amounts of very high quality and expensive ceramics with chracteristic glazes.
The factory never recovered from the Depression of the 1920s and closed in December 1933. William Howson Taylor died in September 1935, aged 59. Neither he nor his workforce ever shared the secrets of his glazes, and the recipes died with him.
From the Staffordshire County Museum Collection