Art Deco Wilkinson Royal Staffordshire Lustre Vase – Plum Band, c. 1920s–30s

Art Deco Wilkinson Royal Staffordshire Lustre Vase – Plum Band, c. 1920s–30s

Lustre was the Staffordshire potters’ way of catching the light, and in the 1920s they used it with real abandon.

A.J. Wilkinson Ltd of Burslem produced earthenware under the Royal Staffordshire Pottery name, developing richly coloured decorative wares during the early twentieth century. The factory also occupies an important place in British ceramic history as the workplace where Clarice Cliff developed her career.

The vase is a tall, tapering baluster form with a short, flared neck. Around the shoulder runs a hand-painted band of stylised plums in different colours, outlined in black and linked by curling blue-green ribbon leaves, set on a lilac-pink lustre ground. Below the band, the lustre drips and deepens into a darker purple, its colour shifting with the light, that runs down to the foot. The interior of the neck is a pale cream lustre with a gilt line at the rim. The base carries the printed Royal Staffordshire Pottery lion mark of Wilkinson Ltd, Burslem, with the painted pattern number 8036 and an additional painted decorator’s mark.

The vase is in very good condition. The gilt line at the rim shows some wear.

Key Details

• Maker: A.J. Wilkinson Ltd, Royal Staffordshire Pottery, Burslem
• Marks: printed crowned lion and Royal Staffordshire Pottery mark; painted pattern number 8036 and an additional painted decorator’s mark
• Period: Art Deco, c. 1920s–1930s
• Material: earthenware, hand-painted with lustre glazes
• Dimensions: height 26 cm; diameter 13 cm
• Weight: 770 g
• Condition: very good; some wear to the gilt rim
• Buyer profile: collectors of Art Deco ceramics and English lustreware; anyone looking for a strong colour piece for a mantel or sideboard

Collector Appeal

Wilkinson’s decorative lustreware captures the colour and experimentation of British pottery during the Art Deco period. Its stylised plum band, contrasting lustre glazes and tall tapering form are typical of that period.

Made to stand in the light, and still doing exactly that.