The Rameking

Worldwide Headquarters of the Australian Studio Art Ramekin, (and a few others) that piece of Australiana that has almost disappeared from our lives and tables. How many of you Baby Boomers have sat in front of a warm fire in winter, eating tinned spaghetti from a ramekin? In the period between the World Wars, and in the decades after, many famous artists made ramekins. They continued until cheap imports and copies almost killed them off in the 1970s. See them here in all their faded glory.

Ramekin is thought to come from a Dutch word for "toast" or the German for "little cream."

Name

Ramekin

Variant

Ramequin, Ramekin dish.

Pronounced

(ram′ə kin)[RAM-ih-kihn]ræməkin

Function

English Noun
Plural

Ramekins

Hypernym

A type of dish

Purpose

Cooking

Etymology

French Ramequin from Low German ramken, diminutive of cream, circa 1706. middle Dutch rammeken (cheese dish) dialect variant of rom (cream), similar to old English ream and German rahm. Ancient French cookbooks refer to ramekins as being garnished fried bread.

Meaning

1. A food mixture, (casserole) specifically a preparation of cheese, especially with breadcrumbs and/or eggs or unsweetened pastry baked on a mould or shell.

2. With a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 oz), it is a small fireproof glass or earthenware individual dish similar in size and shape to a cup, or mould used for cooking or baking and serving sweet or savoury foods.

3. Formerly the name given to toasted cheese; now tarts filled with cream cheese.

4. A young child usually between the ages of 3 months and 11 years exhibiting a compulsion to force or "ram" their head into various objects and structures.

These days, a ramekin is generally regarded as a small single serve heatproof serving bowl used in the preparation or serving of various food dishes, designed to be put into hot ovens and to withstand high temperatures. They were originally made of ceramics but have also been made of glass or porcelain, commonly in a round shape with an angled exterior ridged surface. Ramekins have more lately been standardized to a size with a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 ounce) and are now used for serving a variety of sweet and savoury foods, both entrée and desert.

They are also an attractive addition to the table for serving nuts,dips and other snacks. Because they are designed to hold a serving for just one person, they are usually sold in sets of four, six, or eight. Ramekins now are solid white, round, with a fluted texture covering the outside, and a small lip. Please bear in mind that whatever you ask for them on Internet auction sites, someone is still getting the same thing in an op shop for peanuts.

However, there are hundreds of decorative ramekins that came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They came in countless colours and finishes and many were made by our leading artists and ceramicists. My collection has ramekins with One handle only, fixed to the body at one point only. If it has no handle, it is a bowl. If it has two, it is a casserole dish. But the glory day of the Australian Studio Art ramekin is well and truly over. See some here, ask questions or leave answers.

P.S. Remember, just as real men don't eat quiche, real ramekins don't have lids or two handles. Also remember, two handles makes it a casserole dish. Also, please note If it aint got a handle, it's just a bowl.
P.P.S. To all you cretins who advertise your ramekins by associating them with "Eames" or "Eames Era". Get your hand off it, you are not kidding anyone. The Eames people have told me that they never made ramekins.
P.P.P.s To all the illiterates out there in cyberspace, just as there is no "I" in team, there is no "G" in Ramekin. I am the Rameking, they are ramekins.
If you have a set of Grandma's ramekins at the back of a kitchen cupboard, have a look through the site, maybe you will identify them. Thank-you for looking.
There are many of you out there that have knowledge of Australian pottery. Please let me know if you have anything that I can add to the notes. It is important to get the information recorded. You probably know something that nobody else does.
Please note that while your comments are most welcome, any that contain a link to another site will no longer be published.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Harry & May Davis

Designer	Harry and May Davis
Maker	Harry and May Davis
Marks	Stamped “P” inside “C” to base
Description	Small wheel thrown clay bowl with pale brown glaze to interior of bowl. Flat circular base and slight indent to rim. Flat knife blade handle rising upwards and fixed to upper third of bowl
Condition	Very Good
Number
Production Date	1946-1968
Width	77mm
Depth	40mm
Length (with handle)	115mm
Weight	140gm
Volume	120ml
Acquisition	Antiques Bazaar Prahran Victoria
Rameking Reference Number	HMD 001-00

The Rameking has just returned from a Royal progress / Grand Tour of the North Island of New Zealand. In the language of the locals, “Choice Bro.” Don't laugh, but Harry first learned throwing pottery from Mr Bean. Enough of the levity. You can find heaps about the Davis' on the Internet, particularly at;

( http://www.philoliver.com/pottery/harryintro.htm )

Every so often, someone comes along that is head and shoulders above just about everyone else in their chosen profession or craft. Such a person was Harry Clemens Davis (1907-1986). Not to be confused with the more famous and exceptionally collectable Harry Davis from Royal Worcester, Harry was blessed with seemingly boundless energy, a ferocious intellect and prodigious talent, Harry flew through life like a shooting star, amazing just about everyone who saw him work. These ramekins do not really do justice to him as an example of his work. Made after his return from Africa from clay better suited to brickmaking, they are beautifully hand crafted and are a precursor to the one by Peter Stichbury who later worked with Michael Cardew in Africa that is on display at Te Papa Museum in Wellington. They only have one, the Rameking has this set of four.

Rameking Rule. Don't just collect the man, collect from the man who learned from the master. Old proverb, Nothing is taught, everything is learned. What follows is just a brief outline of the life and work of a couple to whom no brief outline can do justice. I would love to put much more in about them but I will leave it up to you to chase up more.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the standard and quality of production of English pottery was at its height. Into this world came young Harry Clemens Davis, firstly at Poole Pottery, in Dorset originally “Carters Industrial Tile Manufactory”. Poole just outside Bournemouth is relatively near to Harry's birthplace of Glamorgan in Wales. Harry was the son of Harry James Davis, a typewriter salesman and his wife Annie Marie Davis. Jesse Carter, the founder of Poole, Harold and Phoebie Stabler, together with John and Truda Adams began producing the well known popular and highly collectible art deco art pottery there in 1921. The thirties were the heyday of Poole. Into this environment came enthusiastic young Harry Davis. He learned much from Poole, particularly the Stablers who had long experience in most facets of pottery and its decoration. He also worked at the Broadstone Potters, a short lived company (1928-1934) who produced a range called “Joyous”. Harry was a decorator and all round general hand..

After learning quickly, Harry moved on to work with Bernard Leach in 1933 at the Leach Pottery in the Cornish town of St Ives, that still operates today. (Both the pottery and the town). Bernard is considered to be the doyen of studio art pottery, although it is unlikely that he was at the pottery during Harry's time there as Bernard was touring Europe at the time and Harry was running the pottery. It was at the Leach Pottery that Harry met May Scott, a student. They married in 1938 on his returning to England after moving to the Achimota School, where in 1937 Harry had taken a position as Head of the Art School. Founded in 1924 it was formerly Prince of Wales College and still operates in Accra, Ghana.

Harry remained there, separated from May until 1942 when Michael Cardew replaced him as Head of the Art Department. May had moved to Peru and Harry went there briefly until philosophical differences with the group May was with led to their return to Cornwall. It was during Michael's tenure in Africa that Peter Stichbury went to Africa to learn local techniques. When the war finished, Harry and May bought an ancient mill in the Cornish town of Praze an Beeble near Crowan, Cornwall, hence their stamp of the letter “P” inside the letter “C” for Crowan Pottery. Praze is the largest village in the parish.

For the next twenty years they ran the Crowan Pottery succesfully until Harry decided to move to New Zealand. Having survived World War II, Harry was fearful of a nuclear war and wanted to get as far away from it as possible. NZ was that place. Harry, May and their children arrived with fifteen tons of Luggage following by boat. He picked Nelson as the place to be because of its pottery industry and availability of raw materials needed to make pottery. He became a naturalized New Zealander shortly afterwards. They started a new pottery that they called “Crewenna”. St Crewenna's is the Parish Church in Crowan, Cornwall. Just as an aside, Cornwall is full of places names after saints that no-one else has ever heard of. Harry rigged up the waterwheel to generate the electricity needed to operate the pottery. He could turn his hand to just about anything.

Their daughter Nina graduated from Canterbury university and joined them at the pottery in Nelson. Having inherited her fathers inquiring mind, she went to England to work with Ray Finch (1914-2012) at Winchcombe Pottery in Gloucestershire. She also went to South America to work with her parents. After her marriage in 1978, she and new husband moved back to New Zealand where they opened the Nina Davis Pottery at Hira near Nelson.

After a few years, Harry's itchy feet got the better of him and it was off to South America again. This time in 1972 to Izcuchaca in Peru. It was an aid project to set up an industry for the indigenous people in the high Andes. Harry traveled extensively on fund raising lecture tours in Australia and the United States. The project finished in 1979 and both Harry and May returned to Nelson in poor health. Harry died in 1986 and May died in 1995.

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Origin of the Australian Art Studio Ramekin

In the 19th Century, Ramequin Cases began to be used in cooking. These were paper cups, similar to those used for cupcakes or muffins. As time passed, people began to make them from clay and the spelling mostly changed from Ramequin to Ramekin. Ramequin still holds out in a few places, mainly in parts of the USA. The heyday of the Australian ramekin began in the 1930s.

Australian Art Studio pottery grew out of the 19th Century Arts and Crafts Movement. Following the upheaval of the First World War, potters found that many people still wanted hand made homewares. In Australia, many potters opened studios to meet this demand which intensified after the Second World War when returned ex services people set up their homes. It is the fallout from this ageing group that is now finding it’s way onto the market. Most of them may never be valuable, it is only their intrinsic value,but after another 100 years, who knows?

The Government, still in austerity mode encouraged manufacture of practical pottery post World War 2, by placing a higher tax on decorative wares, leading to potteriesmaking items that were decorative but had a practical use,thus avoiding the tax. This explains the absence of figurines that were the mainstay of many English potteries, and the proliferation of things like ramekins and vases.

Retraining programmes for returned and wounded soldiers at the end of the First and Second World Wars provided a workforce for the many potteries that flourished in Australia at the time. After the First World War, Bendigo Pottery needed a trained workforce to help make the flood of bricks for the housing in Melbourne. Towards the end of the Second, Guy Boyd worked at the Rehabilitation Hospital at Ingleburn, New South Wales, teaching pottery

Before take away food and plastics came to dominate the market, ceramics were used for a much wider range of products. The population explosion created by the Australian gold rush resulted in an increased demand for all kinds of locally manufactured goods. As the market diversified so too did the pottery, from commercial packaging to utility kitchenware. For the larger pottery’s, domestic items were, however, always a sideline to the main business of serving the building trade. For some, smaller potteries and individual potters, ramekins were the main income producer.

In 1957 the Australia-Japan Agreement on Commerce negotiated by Australian Trade Minister, John 'Black Jack' McEwan dealt a major blow to commercial potteries. This agreement opened the doors for mass- produced cheap Japanese ceramics to flood the Australian market. Many local commercial potteries were forced out of business by this competition, but a few managed to survive.

There are also the untold stories of some Eastern European migrants fleeing persecution who made a new life in post war Australia, thanks largely to ramekins. Because they made homewares and not art sculpture, their stories have not been adequately told. In some cases, this is the only place you will find part of their stories.

To help calculate the relative cost of these ramekins, I have here are a couple of items to compare the average weekly earnings for a man in Australia for the decades during which ramekins were popular; In 1940, it was $9.60, in 1950 it was $11.50. To convert to the old currency, divide by two.

Please Note

Comments on this blog are moderated BEFORE they appear on the site, and this takes time. There is often a delay between a comment being posted and it being approved. If you do not wish to have your comment posted, I will not post it.

The photographs form part of the description. Due to the light, my photos may show slight variances in colour and some shadows, distortions, reflections and highlights that should not be there. Also different computers and monitor settings will affect colours. My ramekins are all washed in warm water with mild detergent as this identifies any crazing or cracks that are very faint, or invisible to the naked eye. This ensures that the descriptions are more accurate.

Modern Ramekins

Ramekins are one of the few baking dishes that actually have their own name, setting them apart from generic sounding “cake pans” and “baking dishes.” Modern ramekins are small, cylindrical dishes that are used for baking individually sized dishes. They are ideal for baking small soufflés, as their straight sides make it easy for an egg white-based souffle mixture to rise up the sides of the dish and gain a lot of height, as well as for baking individual desserts, since they offer built-in portion control. Use them for little pudding cakes and baked egg-cups, and also for chilled desserts, such as panna cotta and chocolate mousse.

Ramekins can be made out of any heat-proof material; most modern ones are often made out of porcelain, pyrex or something similar. They can come in any size, but are most often found in 4-, 6- or 8-ounce volumes. Some will have very shallow sides, but most have a rise of about an inch or so, depending on the size of the dish itself.

Their small size actually makes them useful for applications outside of the oven. For instance, they’re often used when a cook is doing preparation work in the kitchen, separating chopped ingredients into individual dishes to be used at a later time. They’re also a nice way to present side servings of dressings, sauces and dips.

There are a small number of people who refer to ramekins as “pipkins”. I do not. Yes, there are similarities, but historically, a pipkin is a small earthenware or metal cooking pot used for cooking over direct heat. They had a tripod moulded into the base to stand clear of the fire. Examples of Romano-British pipkins are not uncommon. Late medieval and postmedieval pipkins had a hollow handle in order to insert a stick in it for manipulation. See the “Diana” ramekins for a recent homage to this. Many more recent ones have a spout at a right angle to the handle.

To me a ramekin without a handle is just a bowl or a dish.

It's simple really.

No handle-it's a bowl or a dish

One handle-it's a Ramekin

Two Handles-it's a Casserole dish

Copyright

Most of the images on this site are of my collection as are the comments. Other images and comments on this site are reproduced for the purposes of your information and interest only. I would be grateful for any information concerning Copyright and I will withdraw any items so described immediately on Copyright holder's request.

Please leave any other comments regarding anything on this blog. In the interests of accuracy, I will be pleased to have any information or comments you may have. There are many older people out there that have been involved in the Australian pottery world of the fifties and sixties. Get those arthritic fingers moving and put that knowledge out there. When you go, it goes with you.

Disclaimer

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The facts, figures, reviews, records, statistics, and other data presented on this blog is for suggestion and information purposes only. The Rameking is not responsible for any incorrect or incomplete information. The Rameking does not take responsibility for any user-reviews of websites inside its resource and reserves the right to keep or remove those. It is highly recommended that you review all the data for accuracy.

The Rameking

Ramekin is thought to come from a Dutch word for "toast" or the German for "little cream."

Friday, March 9, 2012

Harry & May Davis

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Blog Archive

Name	Ramekin
Variant	Ramequin, Ramekin dish.
Pronounced	(ram′ə kin)[RAM-ih-kihn]ræməkin
Function	English Noun
Plural	Ramekins
Hypernym	A type of dish
Purpose	Cooking
Etymology	French Ramequin from Low German ramken, diminutive of cream, circa 1706. middle Dutch rammeken (cheese dish) dialect variant of rom (cream), similar to old English ream and German rahm. Ancient French cookbooks refer to ramekins as being garnished fried bread.
Meaning	1. A food mixture, (casserole) specifically a preparation of cheese, especially with breadcrumbs and/or eggs or unsweetened pastry baked on a mould or shell. 2. With a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 oz), it is a small fireproof glass or earthenware individual dish similar in size and shape to a cup, or mould used for cooking or baking and serving sweet or savoury foods. 3. Formerly the name given to toasted cheese; now tarts filled with cream cheese. 4. A young child usually between the ages of 3 months and 11 years exhibiting a compulsion to force or "ram" their head into various objects and structures.