Diana (Scallop Shell)

Designer	Diana Pottery
Maker	Diana Pottery
Marks	No Marks or identification
Description	Slipware cream glazed exterior, harlequin interior scallop shaped dish with handle moulded to fit under a rod in a tray.  Resting in three square feet moulded into base.
Condition	Very good.  Very slight chipping to overglaze.
Number
Production Date	Early 1950s
Width	125mm
Depth	30mm
Length (with handle)	115mm
Weight	100gm
Volume	200ml
Acquisition	Camberwell Sunday Market 24th April 2011
Rameking Reference Number	DIA 001 DIA 002 DIA 003 DIA 004 DIA 005 DIA 006

Eric Cornwell Lowe was born in Melbourne in 1901 at East Brunswick, Victoria.  At the time, a number of potteries operated in the area, but Eric’s father (Arthur Horace Lindsay Lowe, 1868-1938) was a Salesman and later an Agent.  His mother was Amy Beatrice Catterall (b1871).  Eric moved to Sydney and married Vera Louisa Christopher in 1932, they do not appear to have had children.   Arthur and Amy moved up in the world, moving from Brunswick to Moonee Ponds, then to Caulfield, an affluent Melbourne suburb.

Young Eric was quite entrepreneurial in his late teens as he began importing cut glass and crockery from Germany and Czechoslovakia.  Timing was not on his side as this began in 1939.  This company was called “Eric C Lowe Pty Ltd.”   “Manufacturers of Utility and Fancy Earthenware”.

The shareholders of this company were;

·        Eric C Lowe

·        Mrs Vera Louise Lowe

·        John Christopher

·        Winston McKenley Christopher

·        Brian Winter LeQueene

·        Josephine Mary Permewan (Victoria)

·        Ralph Rankin  (Victoria)

Directors of the company were

·        E.C.Lowe

·        V.L.Lowe

·        J.Christopher

·        W.M.Christopher

·         

The business was incorporated in New South Wales on the 11^th of July 1939, having previously been carried on by Eric as a sole trader, and was given 401 ordinary and 2665 preference shares when incorporated. 

Eric had a large amount of stock on hand and could not sell it due to the stigma now attached to German goods.  So, during the Second World War (1941) Eric and Vera got Government contracts to produce ceramic wares (cream ware cups and mugs and pots and jugs) for the armed forces. Eric did not join up as many of his contemporaries did.  Many industries supplying the armed forces were “protected industries” and many of their employees were exempt from military service.  Most potteries at that time were geared for the war effort and the demand from Australian and American troops was enormous. 

Seen after the company incorporated, in 1941, Eric began making art pottery.  This did not last long as wartime restrictions meant that this was prohibited in May 1942.  They began making teapots, jugs, cups and mugs around May 1942.  During wartime, price control measures meant that Eric had to submit financial returns to the Commonwealth government.  This fixed the price that Eric could charge for the output. Thankfully, these records still exist.  These give detailed accounts of all the itemised accounting for the business. 

These are notable for showing that Fowler, Bakewell and Mashman were making similar items for the services.  Still, this did not stop the business from making a profit of 39.3% in 1940/41 and 26.0% in 1941/42.  Profits gradually dropped and the next year they only made about 13%.  In 1943/44, the profit was down to 10.7%.  The next year produced a deficit of £411.  Late in 1944, Eric had to repay 25 of his workers back pay because of a Womens Employment Board decision that he had underpaid them.  These were all women as most men had by then enlisted. 

Although born in Victoria, his pottery was started at 122-126 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, Sydney and it continued there until the early 1970s, when cheap copies and imports caused a drastic decline in sales and its eventual closure.  The giant Fowler works were already established there works in the area because of the clay found in the area, and later, Studio Anna commenced nearby.  They also purchased kaolin from the Pottery Clay Works for £3.15/- per ton.

In November 1945, a fire started by a lime kiln spread to the works and quickly destroyed much of the factory. Fire is an occupational hazard in potteries and brick works but nevertheless it was a devastating blow.  The works had been extensively refurbished the previous year.  Contracts from the Services were drying up and production had to revert to peace time items.  When the war finished, Arthur began had rebuilt and began making domestic pottery for the homes of the families of returned services people.  This included a large range of slip cast vases in a variety of gloss and matte colours, sizes and shapes, or sprayed to create a speckled texture,

Their output included such products as ceramic horse-head book ends, several other animal figures, (a pair of greyhounds was a popular product) tableware, utility and kitchenware. Over 200 different shapes were produced during their lifetime.  Some products were sold using the name “Hollywood.”  By the early 1950s the company had more than 70 employees and were producing a large range of hand painted articles which included "Waltzing Matilda" musical mugs and jugs, and produced bright "gumnut" pots with pale green and brown glazes.

The musical mugs and jugs played when lifted, but the movements were expensive and difficult to obtain, being imported from Switzerland, so many mugs and jugs that should have had movements were sold without at reduced prices. In the 1960s Diana diversified their range further into decorated oven and kitchenware, hand painted with maple, poinsettia, cornflower, blackberry, wattle and flannel flower designs.  In the 1960's, a variety of small slip cast vases hand decorated in gold were made for a gift shop in the Imperial Arcade Sydney which were marketed under the name 'Imperial'.  Although these are not ramekins, I have some of them.

After the Second World War there had been a massive increase in the number of potteries around Australia. Commercial, studio and backyard potteries were being established in the suburbs of most major cities and by 1955 there were over 12,000 people working in the quarrying and manufacture of clay related industries.  This also included brickworks.  After the war, Eric had changed production to domestic pottery and throughout the 1950s, Diana was the largest and most prolific pottery in New South Wales, producing hundreds of different products and designs, many hand painted. Native wildflowers were a popular motif.

Among them, as mentioned, the Flannel Flower, an iconic Sydney plant used in imagery and art since colonial times.  Sometimes known as the Sydney Flannel Flower, it is usually known as the Flannel Flower and was chosen to be the New South Wales floral emblem for the Centenary of Federation (1901-2001).  It is found in the sandstone national parks in the greater Sydney area and can be sometimes found in spectacular drifts.  The flowers are about 50mm in diameter and appear in Spring.  The stunning Pink Flannel Flower is rarely seen as it only appears in the summer following a bushfire.

Soon after the end of the Second World War, Eric began advertising for more staff and soon had a thriving business making home-wares for the thousands of ex-servicemen starting their families.  His pottery even had a staff canteen, far more advanced than many of the other one or two person companies operating on a shoestring budget.  In the mid 1960s, they (Diana Pottery (Vic) Pty Ltd) had a shop in Melbourne at 343 Little Collins Street. 

The potteries around Australia employed thousands of people, many given their start in Australia following migration from Europe after the second word war.  Eric Jungvirt who started Studio Anna was one who started with Eric at Diana.  I think it fair to say that you would have had a piece of Diana pottery in yours or your parents home at some stage, probably a ramekin, a mixing bowl or a vase. At their peak, Diana employed around 70 people but this had declined to around 30 by 1970.  They continued on for a few more years calling their output “Dana”. 

In Australia, the Whitlam Government had cut tariffs without warning by 25 percent in 1973.  1974 saw an increase in imports of 30 percent.  By mid-1974, Australia was in an economic slump with unemployment rising significantly.  Short-term credit rates rose to extremely high levels and this caused prices to spike sharply, and according to Government figures, inflation topped 13 percent for over a year between 1973 and 1974.  On top of these problems, wage parity was legislated for female workers meant an increase in wages costs.It was in this climate that Diana fell on hard times and ceased production.  Eric was by then in his early 50s.

Much of the Dana ceramics were copies of the later “Nefertiti” ramekins, with a rough textured (Avocado) exterior and a brown glazed lip and interior. They also produced wares using the names Hollywood, Imperial and just plain Australian.  Check out the Diana website for lots more.   Also, a potter at Bendigo Pottery told me that the conveyor that moves the pottery around the Bendigo Pottery today was said to have come from the old Diana Pottery after it closed in 1974.  The entire Marrickville site consisting of the Fowler, Diana and Studio Anna potteries was demolished and subdivided in 1982.  Eric died in Sydney NSW on the 10^th February 1977 age 76.  Vera lived on for many years.

Mystery Maker Marked Acord

Designer
Maker	“Acord”
Marks	“Acord incised to base under glaze
Description	Roughly made wheel thrown clay ramekins with hollowed top tab handle fixed to bowl. Wide bowl tapering to distinct base similar to some oriental ware.
Condition	Very Good condition for age. Age related crazing to internal and external surfaces.
Number
Production Date	Could be as early as mid 1930s to late 1950s
Width	123mm
Depth	45mm
Length (with handle)	165mm
Weight	245gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition
Rameking Reference Number (s)	ACO 001 ACO 002 ACO 003

Wheel thrown earthenware ramekins that look like they were made in the 1950s but could be much earlier. Each is a slightly different size. The name "Acord" incised by wire to the base. Not well made with the glaze age crackling. Style is similar to Japanese Tea Ceremony bowls. Harlequin interior with matching colour banded around the exterior near the rim. There are no chips or cracks but some crazing and adhesions of clay granules to base. Probably picked up in the kiln after first firing but before glazing.

Dorian Sands

Designer	Tom Sanders
Maker	Dorian Sands
Marks	Incised signature “Dorian Sands” to unglazed base.
Description	Small wheel thrown bowl with tab handle impressed with a sunburst/starfish design to top of handle.
Condition	Good, some age related crazing to glaze on bowl interior
Number
Production Date	1950s
Width	90mm
Depth	45mm
Length (with handle)	123mm
Weight	160gm
Volume	200ml
Acquisition	A very pleasant man named Neil and his wife at the Camberwell Sunday Market

Thomas Percy Sanders was born on the 16^th of February 1924. Others record his birth in 1921 or 1925, but it was actually 1924. After serving in the Royal Australian Air Force as an Aircraftsman in WW2, Tom moved north from Melbourne and started working in Guy Boyd's Sydney pottery as a potter and ceramic decorator. He moved back to Melbourne in 1949 and worked at the Hoffmann pottery in East Brunswick. He spent a year with Arthur Boyd at Murrumbeena in suburban Melbourne before setting up his own pottery "T & E Sanders" at Eltham in 1950.

Following the establishment of Montsalvat in 1934, Eltham was becoming a centre for what was later to be called the alternative lifestyle. Tom produced these pieces decorated with a sunburst/starfish pattern to the top of the tab handles with the name "Dorian Sands", incised to the base. You can see the wire mark where he removed them from the wheel. His work is said to have been influenced by Guy Boyd and John Perceval. I tend to think that his skill as a potter and artist probably influenced them. Tom was part of that talented group of artists who moved to London in the late 1950s eg: Sydney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman Brett Whitely and Barry Humphries. There is an advertisement for his ramekins in South Australia in 1950. In 1964, a black and white 16mm film entitled “The Lively Arts” featured Tom. Using his pseudonym Dorian Sands, he also produced a series of sgraffito decorated zodiac inspired ramekins. They can be costly so if you find one, buy it.

From 1969 until 1971, Tom and John Olsen completed a large ceramic mural entitled “Eastern World” at the University of Melbourne in the courtyard of the Physics Building. Tom's son, Christopher Sanders was born in Melbourne in 1952. He started working in his father’s pottery at Eltham in 1972 and continues working today. Yet another example of following in father's footsteps. The start of Christopher’s career coincided with Tom’s serious illness and Tom stopped working until 1980. Some of the ramekins incised "Dorian Sands" are very similar in design to those of Arthur Boyd, so he obviously used some of the designs when he moved to Eltham. As well as ceramics, Tom was also a designer whose work was reproduced in prints as well as tapestry. He also made blanks that were decorated by artist John Olsen. Examples are in the Powerhouse Museum.

In 1993 Tom Sanders published, “Spare the Face, Gentlemen, Please”, a “world wind tour of the sordid and sorry catacombs of the local art world with all its meanness, deceit, pretensions and betrayals” (John Yule, from inside the jacket cover of Spare the Face). It also reflects on his time in the army (except he was in the Air Force), living abroad and his friendships. Illustrated by Arthur Boyd the images are raw and immediate, often shocking. The illustration for the title of the book, refers to the words of Marshall Ney after the battle of Waterloo to the firing squad just about to shoot him to “spare the face, gentlemen, please”. Sanders wonders if he will say too much and will we, the reader ‘spare the face’. Will he be cut down again by the art world which had exiled him some ten years before?

What does he mean by “cut down again by the art world which had exiled him some ten years before?” Probably referring to the emerging underground scene of the time that rejected those artists of the previous generation that had moved from radical to established; a curious thing that happens every thirty years or so.  If you want to know more, check out 

http://australianpottery.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/known-potter-44-tom-sanders/

Mystery Maker Marked Y or XY

Designer
Maker
Marks	Y or YX impressed to base under handle
Description	Wheel thrown stoneware ramekin of large volume. Rough stub handle fixed roughly to body with countervailing support handle opposite. Brown glaze lightly applied to interior. Exterior brown glaze patterned with antiquing to relief banding.
Condition	Very Good
Number
Production Date	Typical of faux colonial stoneware of the 1970s
Width	140mm
Depth	65mm
Length (with handle)	190mm
Weight	650gm
Volume	750ml
Acquisition	Holbrook Op Shop, April 2011

Nothing known on this maker. Ramekin shows how the serving sizes increased from the early days of between 200 to 250ml to this one of 750ml. This period also shows the last-gasp of the Australian Studio-Art Ramekin.