Crown Pyrex

Designer	Pyrex
Maker	ACI Crown Pyrex
Marks	Moulded ”PYREX” (in capitals) to base
Description	Milky white Pyroceram squared glass bowl with sides tapering to a raised circular footring, handle moulded to one corner.
Number	O RS 12 moulded into base
Production Date	1963/64
Width	118mm
Depth	45mm
Length (with handle)	163mm
Weight	225gm
Volume	325ml
Acquisition	Purchase Waverly Antique Market 17th April 2014
Condition  Very Good, unused
Rameking Reference Number	PYR 005-010

At the beginning of this blog is the statement that a lot of these ramekins are coming onto the market as people pass away.  Such is the case with these.  I bought them from a man who does house clearances.  These had been in someone’s kitchen for decades, still in the original box, untouched.  They were most likely a wedding present back in the mid 1960s.  They are marked with the words “Crown Pyrex” moulded into their base, along with a three-pointed crown symbol.

Pyrex is a name for glassware introduced by the American Corning and Incorporated in 1915.  Originally Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass.  Their website tells the story that their scientists developed a heatproof glass for railway lanterns.  Originally used in industrial applications, it became used as home ware when Bessie Littleton, wife of one of the Corning scientists asked him to bring home some glass to replace her broken casserole dish.  He brought her the bottom of some battery jars. 

In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda lime glass that is now the most common form of glass used in glass bake ware and has a higher mechanical strength so is less vulnerable to breakage when dropped (the main cause of breakage in glass bake ware).

These ramekins are made from a product called Pyroceram.  The manufacture of this material involves a process of controlled crystallization.  NASA classifies it as a “Glass-Ceramic” product.  NASA used a borosilicate coated quartz sand ceramic tile to cover the Space Shuttle providing a heat shield to resist the 3,000 degree F temperature on re entry.

Glass Ceramic materials share many properties with both glass and ceramics.  They have an amorphous phase and one or more crystalline phases and are produced by a “controlled crystallization” in contrast to a spontaneous crystallization that is not usually wanted in glass manufacturing.  Glass ceramics usually have between 30% [m/m] and 90% [m/m] crystallinity and yield an array of materials with interesting thermo-mechanical properties.

Pyroceram is a material developed and trademarked by Corning Glass in 1953.  Capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 450 degrees C (840 F), its development evolved from Cornings’ work in developing photosensitive glass.  Corning credits S Donald Stookey with its discovery; while he was conducting research he noted that an accidentally overheated fragment of glass resisted breakage when dropped.  These are an early example.

Another Australian Pottery, Studio Anna was also catering for the cookware market at the same time.  Introduced by owner Karel Jungvirt around the early 1960s, possibly as an Australian answer to Corning Ware (which came out in 1958), a range of decorated cookware he called Pyro-Ceracraft was developed. Available in a wide selection of designs and described as oven tableware, this range of heat resistant ceramics included casserole dishes, pie dishes and ramekins and was designed to be attractive enough to be brought straight from the oven to the dinner table.

Glass ceramics are mostly produced in two steps.  Firstly, a glass is formed in a glass manufacturing process.  The glass is then cooled down and is then reheated in a second stage.  In this heat treatment the glass partly crystallizes.  In most cases nucleation agents are added to the base composition of the glass-ceramic.  These nucleation agents aid and control the crystallization process.  Because there is no pressing and sintering, glass-ceramics have no pores , unlike sintered ceramics.  When a liquid crystallizes during a cooling phase of a process, the molecules organize from a primary nucleus to form complex structures.  These structures continue to grow until they impinge on neighbouring molecules, then they stop.  Properties of the item depend on the size of the molecular structures.

For crystal growth to start, a primary process called nucleation has to occur.  This is the focal centre around which the molecules can organize themselves.  The secondary process of crystal growth follows nucleation.   A nucleation agent is a foreign body added to create a new surface on which crystal growth can happen. Typically this phase takes the form of an agent to have a good match with the growing crystal.

The 2nd World War saw production of domestic ware drop to fairly low levels at Crown.  Most of their production was servicing the war effort, including contracts for the US Navy.  After the war, some of their early patterns made a comeback, but much of their production turned to ceramic glazed, colourful but streamlined and less decorative items, as was the fashion in the 1950s.  Much of their glass was mould-blown or involved hand tooling, but this ceased in 1968.

During the 1950s and 1960s tableware production continued, especially for homes, hotels restaurants and milk bars.  In 1963 Crown Crystal became a division of Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI) which set up a joint venture with American company Crown Corning in 1968, known in Australia as Crown Corning Ltd.  In 1998 ACI became an affiliate of Owens-Illinois in the USA, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass containers and a leading glass equipment manufacturer.

Established on the 25^th of January 1939 and closing in 1982, Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI) was a holding company, consisting of subsidiaries that manufactured items such as bottles, glassware, sheet glass, engineering products and plastics.  Located at Spotswood in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Brisbane, Queensland and Dandenong, Victoria.  They had also opened a factory in Japan prior to the Second World War, and in Singapore, post war.

Crown Crystal Glass Pty. Ltd. was established in 1926 when the Australian Glass Manufacturers Co. Ltd. acquired Crystal Glass Ltd. and combined it with one of their existing subsidiaries, the Crown Glass Company.  The latter had been known as Crown Glass Works Ltd. prior to AGM acquiring it in 1921.  AGM owned other subsidiaries throughout Australia & New Zealand, making bottles & jars and sheet glass for windows.  Based in Sydney, Crown Crystal Glass would produce Grimwade hand-cut crystal, pressed glass tableware, and Agee Pyrex ovenware, the latter entering the market in 1932.

Although Pyrex had been made in England during the 1950s & 1960s and was marked with a crown symbol, the word "Crown" was never part of the brand name.  Items with this logo are not meant to be "Crown Pyrex".

A solid-coloured exterior finish first appeared on clear Agee Pyrex in 1938.  Alongside ordinary clear Pyrex, colour choices available up to 1942 were: Blue, Green, Biscuit/Primrose, Daffodil.  Biscuit and Primrose may or may not be the same colour; the descriptions in advertising vary.  Only plain clear Pyrex was offered for the duration of the 1940s, but Biscuit, Blue and Green returned in 1950.  Sometime during the 1950s, Coral (red) replaced Blue.

In 1959 opal Pyrex could be purchased in Australia for the first time, but it was not made in Australia.  British opal Pyrex from J. A. Jobling's was imported, starting with Daisy and Snowflake from the Gaiety product line.  In white Daisy on turquoise, a shallow oval open baker was specially produced for a Nestle's condensed milk promotion in 1959.  In place of JAJ's usual backstamp, "Nestle's" is embossed across the bottom.  Clear Pyrex from England had always had a presence in Australia, and along with opal Pyrex, this was maintained until at least the 1980s, possibly later. 

The Australian plant launched opal Agee Pyrex in 1961 with the Festive Ware product line.  Flannel Flowers, in Rose Pink, Haze Blue, or Buttercup, and Black Rose were the first patterns to debut.  Solid-coloured Copperglow (or Honey Glow) and ramekins in Harlequin colours also appeared in 1961.  Borrowing an American pattern from late 1961, Golden Pine was introduced in 1962.  Other colours were a light sky-blue, pale dove–grey blue, (think Yves Saint Laurant) Eau De Nil Green, Summer Orange, Tangerine and Sun Yellow.

Company names and brand names changed a few times during the lifetime of Australian-made Pyrex.  Upon diversifying into plastics in 1939, the parent company, AGM, changed its name to "Australian Consolidated Industries Ltd." (ACI), and the glass-making division was named "Australian Glass Manufacturers Co. Pty.", of which Crown Crystal Glass remained a subsidiary.

Pyrex products marketed by Crown Crystal Glass had been consistently branded as "Agee Pyrex" until 1963 when the brand name transitioned to "Crown Agee Pyrex".  A new logo was adopted at that time, a three-pointed crown.  The Agee name was dropped eventually and the product was called "Crown Pyrex" and "Crown Ovenware" through the remainder of the 1960s and into the 1970s.  Back stamps on some newer items simply state "Pyrex (TM) Ovenware" inside a circle, with no crown symbol.

Up to the early 1970s Crown Crystal Glass had not been affiliated with Corning Glass Works of the United States.  Corning already owned a subsidiary in Australia for processing and distributing Corning Ware, and in 1972 Crown Crystal Glass agreed to a merger with this division.  Both ACI and Corning Glass held interests in the newly-formed company, which was named "Crown Corning Ltd."

Crown Corning is now known as Crown Commercial Pty Ltd and continues to produce a large range of glassware for both commercial and domestic markets.  Ramekins of this type are not in the range.  The Crown Crystal Glass Company merged with the American company Corning in 1972 to become Crown Corning.

Crown Corning kept the existing crown logo, and continued to manufacture Australian Pyrex along with Crown Crystal's other glassware lines.  The Pyrex line remained throughout the 1970s, but it is unclear when it ceased production.  Being part of Corning's international network, Crown Corning also distributed Pyrex Ware from the U.S., the U.K. and France to Australian consumers.

There is now quite a bit of evidence that Crown Crystal was copying patterns from overseas after 1932.  Copied patterns have confused collectors so be careful on Internet auction sites.  In a case of what goes around comes around, Australian glass patterns are now also being copied, so be doubly careful. 

For more information, look at  http://www.ozcrowncrystal.com/  because that is where a lot of this has come from.  Glass is not my area and they have some very interesting information.  I have also copied large chunks of information from the Corelle Corner website at http://www.corellecorner.com

The inventor responsible for the discovery of this type opf glass, S Donald Stookey died on the 4th of November 2014 at the age of 99.  See his entry on Wikipedia for more information, it is very interesting. 

Remued / Keryl A1

Designer	Reg Hawkins
Maker	Allan James / Keryl (at Oakover Road)
Marks	Incised “A1” to base
Material	Wheel thrown clay
Description	Clear glazed bowl with spoon handle attached to outside top of rim.  Cream glaze to exterior and handle, speckled harlequin glaze to interior.  Flat circular foot ring.
Condition	Very good
Number	Incised “A1” to base
Production Date	Early 1950s
Width at rim	85.5mm
Width at Base	65.9mm
Depth	40mm
Length (with handle)	11.45mm
Weight	140gm
Volume	125ml
Acquisition	Purchase Tyabb Antiques 2nd March 2014
Rameking Reference Number	REM A1 001-004

These small ramekins were made by Allan James.  That is about the only certainty.  The location of their manufacture is open to conjecture.  None of these A1 and A2 ramekins were marked as Remued although their design is in their shape books.  

Premier Pottery in Preston commenced in 1929 by friends David Dee (1877-1934) and Reg Hawkins (1894-1971). Both men had had much experience in pottery before beginning this small business, set up at 52 Oakover Road in Preston. Previously this site was used for curing bacon. This was a perfect location for opening a pottery as on the corner of Oakover and St. Georges road at that time, was a large clay pit, virtually next door to the pottery.

Premier Pottery Preston was a small undertaking, unusual in that it produced only art pottery, all of it hand-thrown. David Dee threw the pots, Reg Hawkins painted them, and David's son Walter Dee (1904-1987) did the glazing and firing.  Walter helped his father construct a coal-fired kiln out of second-hand bricks and also worked at the pottery glazing and firing. Dee was the thrower (the potter that made the actual items with the wheel) and Hawkins, an Englishman that had once lived with the Dee family in Box Hill, was the decorator. Walter worked as the glazier after learning glazing and kiln firing. 

Earlier, in 1912 David Dee had set up an insulator works but was soon working in various other potteries around Melbourne suggesting this business did not take off. When he co-founded Premier Pottery he was still working part time. Dee was very good at throwing and produced all the early pottery.  His work was mostly for commercial purposes and the few pieces on which he signed his own name were made for use of his own family.  Sadly Dee passed away in 1934, five years after Premier Pottery opened and was not present to see the future successes of the business.

Dee, along with his five brothers, was an apprentice at Campbell's pottery in Launceston, Tasmania, where he leant to use the potter's wheel.  His father Thomas was a friend and neighbour of John Campbell.  Hawkins grew up in Poole, England, and trained as a decorator of pottery before emigrating to Australia. Dee and Hawkins, seeing an opening in the market for decorative ware, established their own business at a time when a number of major potteries were closing due to the Great Depression.   Thomas and his other sons; David Henry, George Henry, John and Thomas Jnr all worked in the pottery trade around Melbourne.  They all lived together at 49 Victoria Street East Brunswick, just up the road from the pottery.

Premier's earlier work reflects the influence of English potteries, due to Hawkin's background and training, and utilized underglazes and coloured glazes imported from Britain. However Premier's soon developed a style that was distinct, and by the 1930s became a highly established and successful business. Throughout this period Premier was characterized by experimentation in glaze techniques and surface treatment, along with the incorporating of Australian motifs into their designs.

The products of Premier Pottery Preston were not mass-produced. Everything was hand-made.  In such an environment, inevitably pieces were produced that were not intended for the retail market but were family gifts, experiments, or simply giving rein to the potter's creative spirit. Although perhaps not strictly 'Remued' many such pieces are nowadays amongst the most interesting and sought-after.

They are often incised with the potter's name or initials. Quite a few are signed by the principal throwers at Premier, David Dee and Allan James (1914-1979).  Others were involved too; industry potters, sometimes moonlighting from jobs at bigger potteries; and studio potters, notably Margaret Kerr, (1898-1958) Una Deerbon (1882-1972) and John Castle-Harris (1893-1967).

In 1934, they added a smaller kiln to the set-up, which included throwing and drying rooms and a storeroom for goods ready for distribution by F.R. Barlow and Sons in the city and the Primrose Pottery Shop (which was upstairs, in a building behind Bunnings on Little Collins Street) listing wares by various makers priced from 6d in 1932 and 1/6 in 1936. Edith MacMillan commissioned works for sale in her shop - just some of the domestic wares the pottery produced for her (See Primrose Pottery).

But the person who made the Remued pots so distinctive was Margaret Kerr, who modelled the gumnuts, gum leaves, berries and branches that were applied to the wheel-thrown forms. Catherine Webb, great-granddaughter of David Dee, writes: "It is possible that it was her idea to begin using Australian imagery. Unpaid, Kerr would go to the pottery to work on her own pieces, modelling animals and so on, which the pottery would then fire and glaze for her; some of Kerr's images were then incorporated into the work of the pottery. There is no evidence of this being other than a mutually beneficial relationship: no tension emerged over ownership of the designs."

Kerr was the daughter of painter Alexander Kerr and had learnt pottery from Merric Boyd (1888-1959); his influence at Premier Pottery was enormous.  Kerr also studied sculpture at the Working Man's College (now RMIT) and taught clay modelling at Brunswick Technical School.  The confidence and exuberance of her forms suggest a passionate personality

Pottery produced at Premier Pottery Preston is better known as the Remued range. The main characteristic of these pieces is the drip glaze style. Before Premier Pottery produced the Remued range they branded their pieces as PPP or Pamela. The name ‘Remued’ comes from Reg Hawkins’ second wife.  Nonie Deumer was her maiden name, which spelt backwards is Remued. She became an investor in the company after David Dee’s death.

 
Reg Hawkins had sole control of the company after Dee’s death and that generated much ill-will between him and Dee’s widow. This ended up being quite a difficult time for Premier Pottery as she then refused Hawkins access to Dee’s glaze recipe book containing much of the company’s trademark styles. Hawkins offered £100 to resolve the issue but was refused by Mrs. Dee. Eventually Walter Dee’s own glazes worked their way into the Remued range and the company continued to succeed. 

The continuous success of Premier Pottery was also because, two years before Dee’s death, a 17-18 year old Alan James was riding his bicycle down Oakover road when Reg Hawkins offered him a job.  Alan accepted and became an apprentice thrower working under David Dee.  Alan picked up the skill easily and was faster and better than anyone else in the company.  He enjoyed his work and would practice at every opportunity.  Alan’s skill and speed resulted in Premier Pottery becoming the leading business in its field as it was able to produce much more than the competition with little resources.

After Dee’s death, Alan was the only thrower and was responsible for all pot shapes from then on. He was also skilful with decorating pieces after having taken classes with Margaret Kerr.  As Alan James took over the decorating the style changed slightly and became more intricate, for example single veined gumleaves can be seen in earlier work but in James’ work the leaves were multi-veined. 

Margaret Kerr began working at the Premier Pottery from the early thirties, having worked previously as a clay modelling instructor.  She was responsible for a lot of the Australian floral and fauna decoration on the Remued range and may have even made the moulds of gumleaves, gumnuts and koalas that appeared often as decoration on the various pieces.  She was a talented artist though she only exhibited her own work during her student years in the mid 20s.  Originally Kerr would visit the pottery to work on her own pieces which the pottery would fire and glaze for her, and in return she would contribute to the decoration of the pieces being made.  Margaret Kerr’s decoration was another contributing factor to the ongoing success of Premier Pottery up until World War II, when she retired.

Alan James was the only worker to remain at the pottery during World War II. The only reason the pottery was able to remain operational was because the government had contracted the pottery to produce acid stoneware jars and white army crockery. Making any decorative pieces was forbidden at the time because of wartime restrictions.

The potter responsible for most Remued production was Allan James who had originally been taught throwing by David Dee.  In 1951-52 he set up a second small pottery operation using an electric kiln, not at Oakover Road but in the backyard of his home at 16 Esther St, Preston.  It may be speculated that he was preparing to abandon Premier Pottery, which probably would have meant the end of Premier because the pottery revolved around him.  Whatever transpired it is known that, about that time, his position at Premier changed from being an employee in a firm owned by Reg Hawkins to being a co-owner.  Alan continued to work by day at Premier and worked evenings at home as well.

The 'backyard' product, not surprisingly, bore a close similarity in style to contemporary Remued production from Oakover Road.  A new numbering series was instigated, the 'A' Series, marketed alongside the Later Series through the same agents. Like the Later Series the 'A' Series started at number 1 but was distinguished by the prefix letter 'A'.  Initially 'A' Series shapes were nearly all new, not repeating previous shapes. They included that favourite of 1950s potters, ramekins (numbered A1 & A2) plus lamp bases, dishes and vases.

Despite Premier Pottery in Preston producing large quantities of ceramic work, they maintained a studio, or handmade approach to their product. The people involved had, with few exceptions, trained in large commercial potteries but saw value in creating pottery by using the potter's wheel without the use of plaster moulds except for decoration. This is significant for the time, as the studio potters were developing sound markets, but were essentially working on a very small scale. There were also many large scale commercial potteries in existence but these tended to make thrown pots or household items as a sideline to industrial or builders' supplies. The Premier Pottery ran for nearly thirty years, filling the space between the studio potters and the factories in a depressed and competitive market.

In 1946 Premier Pottery was back to the level of production it was at before the war but strong competition arose from cheap Japanese imported goods, hindering the success of Premier Pottery. This trend continued, ultimately forcing them to close their doors for good in 1956.

Premier Pottery Preston finally ceased production following, in part difficulties over the lease of the premises.  Factors such as management and rental disputes, changes in the market place, and a decrease in sales, eventually led to their closure.

Despite having a studio atmosphere, Premier Pottery Preston was not a relaxed workplace; the pressure was on. Incising signatures and shape numbers was commonly done late in the day, by anyone available, and mistakes happened. Such mistakes present a problem for cataloguing.  An unexpected or anomalous number cannot necessarily be dismissed as a 'mistake', and while some shapes are sufficiently plentiful and well-documented that a mistaken example can be confidently recognized, is not always the case.

 Allan James then went on to establish Kerryl Pottery in the nearby Melbourne suburb of Reservoir, at 53 Banbury Rd, and transferred production of 'A' Series items there. Reg Hawkins did not join him.  The series was extended with new shapes and new styles of glazing reflecting changing fashions.  Slip-casting was introduced for some designs, replicating popular pieces from other potteries including Beswick, Shorter & Son and E.G.Greenway.  Many familiar shapes from the Later Series also made a re-appearance in the Kerryl range, particularly after about number A88.  The name may be derived from Margot Kerr who worked at Remued from the early 1930s and was responsible for introducing the now highly collectable gumleaf/gumnut design, although it is believed that it was named for Kerry, the son of Allan and Myrtle James.

Premier Pottery Preston is considered a high point in the history of Australian decorative pottery and pieces are sought and displayed by leading museums such as the National Gallery of Victoria.

 
There was an exhibition of Remued and Preston Premier pottery held at Bundoora Homestead in 2005.

Compiled from

Darebin Libraries

Powerhouse Museum 

Remued.com

Penny Webb “Gumnuts and Glazes”

NASCO Brittany

This tureen (or casserole or soup pot) and ramekin set was made by the National Silver Company of Nagoya, Japan and marked “NASCO Brittany”. It could be used as a fondue set also.   The chances are that it was made by one of the many ceramic companies in the Owari province.  This area produced varieties of porcelain and pottery over many centuries, more particularly Seto ware. 

It consists of a metal frame holding a ceramic bowl over a metal container for a flame to heat the contents.   Six ramekins are held by metal hooks on the outside of the metal frame, through holes in the underside of the handles.  This set came in two different metal frames, the other being a tree holding the ramekins vertically. 

Various other china dinnerware has been produced by NASCO, but it seems that NASCO Brittany was a one-off, short lived experiment.  You can find many odd ramekins in op-shops for not much money.  Rarely do you find a full set like this.

Old Cheese Factory Craft Centre

Designer	Not known
Maker	Not Known
Marks	Stamped “Cheese Factory” to foot ring. Plus gold label printed in black ink attached to outside “Hand Crafted The Cheese Factory Craft Centre Ballingup W.A.”
Material	Glazed earthenware clay
Description	Wheel thrown glazed earthenware clay bowl with extended knob handle, open at the end.  Unglazed base.  Brown glaze to bowl, handle end in brown, but with a blue overglaze to the rest of the bowl.
Condition	Very Good
Number	No number
Production Date	1980
Width at rim	117mm
Width at Base	74mm
Depth	48mm
Length (with handle)	1180mm
Weight	330gm
Volume	300ml
Acquisition	Vinnies, Oakleigh, 1st Feb 2014.
Rameking Reference Number	OCF 001

This ramekin was made at the Old Cheese Factory Craft Centre, the largest privately owned craft centre in Western Australia.  Originally the Manjimup Dairy Produce Company Ltd, established in 1933.  It is located about 500 metres off the South West Highway on the Nannup Tourist Drive.  After changing hands a few times over the years, it became a craft centre in 1979 when it was purchased by Stephen Cox and potter Beverley Smitchens, producing works in ceramics, timber, wood turning, furniture as well as Aboriginal art and handcraft.  They sold to Des Milburn in 1985 and later Jennifer Taylor in 1985.  In 1997 it was bought by Mary Kent and also sold antiques and collectibles.

Potters Wendy Wishart and Gary Hambleton operated there before Gary moved to the nearby “Old Stables Pottery ” at Mallinyup.  This ramekin does not look like the work of either of them, but bears the printed label “Hand Crafted The Cheese Factory Craft Centre Ballingup W.A.”  These is also a stamp “Cheese Factory” on the foot ring.

Wendy Wishart

Le Sphinx

Designer	Not known
Maker	NV Koninklijke Sphinx
Marks	Black stamp to base.  The stamp reads; "Parafeu" across the top of the star, "Le Sphinx" across the inside of the star, and "Hollande" between the bottom of the star.
Material	Glazed slip
Description	Small lidded ramekin with stem handle.  Graduated mustard coloured glaze, lightening towards base.  Uncoloured  footring with clear gloss glaze to interior. Lid has knob handle in centre
Condition	Very Good
Number	No number
Production Date	1970s
Width at rim	66mm
Width at Base	52mm
Depth	38mm
Length (with handle)	112mm
Weight	Lid           45gm Ramekin  75 gm
Volume	75ml
Acquisition	Salvo Stores October 2013
Rameking Reference Number	SPH 001-112

These tiny ramekins are known as Parafeu Pastry Cups and were made by Royal Shpinx in Maastricht, Holland.  They came in sets of six on a matching tray.  Just what a pastry cup is, I don’t know.  Maastricht is famous for its ceramics, not just Andre Rieu.  The company was founded in 1827 when Petus Regout (1801 to 1878) changed from glass and crystal cutting and grinding to producing ceramics.   He started a glass factory in 1834 and in 1836 he was producing stoneware for the local market in competition with imported English creamware.  He used printed English designs from Stoke on Trent, employed English workers.  Most of their output was elegant tableware, mostly like the famous blue and white Delft ware.

In 1870 his sons took over and the company became  SA Petrus Regout & Co.  At its peak, they employed 7000 people.  In 1925 the glass company separated and merged with Stella to become  Kristalunie.   Adolphe Regout ran the company from 1934 until 1958.  Petrus Regout began making sanitary and hotel ware and in 1958, the company merged with Societe Ceramique  and in 1960 became NV Koninklijke Sphinx.   (In 1958 they were permitted to be called Royal Sphinx.)  Societe Ceramique was started in 1851 by Winand Clermont and Charles Chainaye and was Petrus’ main competitor.  Gustavsberg, a Swedish company took over in 1997 and in 1999, Sanitek, a Finnish company took over.  In 2008, the company went belly-up and production moved to Sweden.  Today they make bathroom products, but only warehousing continued in Maastricht.

1827 to 1870 Perus Regout & Co

1870 to 1899 Petus Regout NV & Co (re-named after his sons took over)

1899 to 1958 NV Sphinx Ceramique v/h Petrus Regout & Co

1958 to 1960 NV Sprinx Ceramique

1960 to 1994 NV Koninklijke Sphinx

1994 to 2001 NV Koninklijke Sphinx Gustavsberg

2001 to 2012 Koninklijke Sphinx BV

2012 to Present Sphinx Maastricht BV

  

Leach, Bernard Leach

Harry and May Davis Ramekins.  Gee where did this design come from?

Designer	Bernard Leach
Maker	Bernard Leach
Marks	Stamped letter “S” struck through horizontally in cartouche with word “ENGLAND” stamped underneath on outer edge of foot ring.
Material	Tera Cotta Clay
Description	Originally a lidded bowl, this an earthenware clay bowl with flat handle angled upwards from upper third of exterior.  Double band incised to exterior of bowl.  Glazed brown semi-gloss interior
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	1930s
Width at rim	90mm
Width at Base	55mm
Depth	38mm
Length (with handle)	130mm
Weight	172gm
Volume	125ml
Acquisition	Purchase E-Bay 5 Nov 2013
Rameking Reference Number	BLE 001

I know I will get the crazies out over this one, but in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.  I tell it as I see it.  As I say, I am not a potter, nor do I have an academic interest in ceramics.  Sometimes a case of the “Emperors New Clothes” comes along.  So all you purists, please take a tranquilizer before reading on.  This is a website for functional pottery.

There is often disconnection between myth and reality.  Much of what has been written about Bernard is an example of this.  What he was, and what his story has become are two entirely different things.  His reputation as a potter is still better known in Japan than it is in Britain because along with Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada and Soetsu Yanagi, in 1936, he founded the Nihon Mingei Kan (Folkcraft) movement there.  Many references call him the “Father of Studio Pottery.”  Shoji later became a Japanese “National Living Treasure”.  Bernard is also called a “bridge between cultures” and any other numbers of clichés.  So I will leave it to the sycophants tell this part of his story.

Much has been projected onto the story of a man with a great determination who was an inspiration to a generation of potters worldwide.  He was not as widely accepted in his day and his reputation has grown over time within the studio pottery circle.  But it is still studio pottery.  The best analogy I can draw is one I heard a long time ago.  Anyone can build a garden shed, but only a few are capable of building a cathedral.  Bernard was pretty good at his particular type of garden shed, but it ain’t no cathedral.

What must be at the forefront of consideration is that while Bernard was introducing this “new” style of pottery to Britain, dozens of the great Staffordshire potteries were at their peak, producing some of the finest pottery and porcelain ever made, anywhere in the world - ever.  These exceptionally talented artisans toiled for decades in relative anonymity, their artistic skills beyond compare, so it is natural that Bernard’s seemingly rough and ready pottery was viewed somewhat differently at the time.  Have a look under granny’s bed, you will probably find an exquisite, functional Staffordshire dinner or tea set there.

He saw his mission as raising the profile in the West of the Japanese Raku style of pottery.  Few people are blessed with knowledge of their own importance and Bernard was one of them, always with one eye on history, he kept notes and diaries on almost everything.  Ever the searcher, he was continually learning and searching, eventually becoming a follower of the Bah’ai faith, for whom he is something of a poster child.  

His early, disrupted and somewhat turbulent life shaped his future and his philosophy.  Bernard Howell Leach was born in Hong Kong on the 5^th of January 1887 and moved to Kyoto Japan with his Maternal Grandparents as a baby shortly after; his mother having died in childbirth.  His father was a Judge with the Colonial administration and remarried shortly after his first wife’s death.  Bernard returned to Honkers in 1890 and had a problematic relationship with his stepmother.  When you read the story of his life and relationships, it doesn’t take Sigmund Freud to allege that young Bernie carried some serious mummy issues.

Like many of his time, he was subject to the fear of a nuclear holocaust, in its time, much the same as our own doomsday cult of climate change.  One of Bernard’s friends and pupils was Harry Clemens Davis who ran the St Ives pottery in 1933 when Bernard was off on one of his many overseas trips.  Harry became infected with the same phobia and moved to New Zealand to escape the impending nuclear disaster.  Harry made ramekins a lot like this one.  Well folks, Bernard and Harry are now long gone and the nuclear annihilation didn’t happen.  Make of that what you will.

St Ives Pottery 1945

The Rameking will now get on his soapbox and launch forth on his version of climate change.  I expect to get the usual rants from the interweb.  The driver of our current climate change is the magnetosphere, that magnetic field around the earth working as a shield, deflecting and diverting electrically charged solar particles.   (You can see this happening in the aurora borealis and the southern aurora).

This shield is not total and has been weakening and become erratic over the past two millennia.  Most recently over the last 20 years or so.  Some dingbats see this as a sign of a polar shift.  This has the effect of allowing more solar particles in, thus increasing global temperature and changing the ionosphere.  This has caused the jet stream to fluctuate, instead of flowing smoothly around the globe.   Maps for pilots worldwide have already been revised so their autopilots will work.  This has caused the recent increase in aberrant weather patterns.  Now, back to the task at hand.

There are many that think because he was good at one thing then he must be good at others.  This has never been, nor is it now a truth.  Most of us, even the best, are generally only good at one thing.  Everyone, no matter who, has a particular talent that when nurtured becomes better.  Bernard is no exception.  He was good at a particular style of oriental pottery, that’s it.

His early life was marked by a distaste for education until he discovered art.  There are many, many sites with heaps of information on his art, life, work and travels, coupled with his relationships.  I suggest you look at Wikipedia and The Baha’I websites along with many others.  I will stick to this ramekin.  It is a simple earthenware bowl with a stem handle and too small to be of any functional use except as a tasting bowl. Low firing heat.  I got it from E-Bay and it as early example of his work dating from the 1930s.  It’s a wonder that it has survived.