Tim Morris Stoneware Lidded Jar with Brushed Plant Decoration, Signed and Dated 1982

Tim Morris Stoneware Lidded Jar with Brushed Plant Decoration, Signed and Dated 1982

Tim Morris made pots to be handled as well as looked at, and this lidded jar asks to be lifted, opened and turned in the light.

Tim Morris (1941–1990) was born in Windsor, England, and trained at Brighton College of Art, St Martin’s and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London before settling in South Africa in 1965. Working in the stoneware tradition of Bernard Leach, he set up his studio at Muldersdrift outside Johannesburg and became one of the founding members of the Association of Potters of Southern Africa. His later work often drew on motifs from nature, and this jar, signed and dated 1982, reflects that interest.

The faceted stoneware body has flat sides that give it a crisp, many-sided outline. It is covered in a deep, glossy near-black glaze with tenmoku-like brown undertones, brushed with long amber and rust-coloured strokes like blades of grass. The lid is broad and flanged, wider than the body, rising to a raised central panel. The panel is decorated with a stylised plant in grey, amber and dark brown, set off by a band of rust-red glaze, and the flange is divided by fine radial lines. Inside, the jar is glazed dark. The rim where the lid sits and the base are left unglazed, showing the warm, speckled buff stoneware body. The base is signed with the monogram TM and dated 82.

The jar is in excellent condition, free from chips, cracks, crazing or restoration.

Key Details

• Maker: Tim Morris (1941–1990), Muldersdrift, South Africa
• Marks: monogram TM and date 82 on the base
• Date: 1982
• Material: stoneware, with dark glossy glaze and brushed decoration
• Form: faceted lidded jar with broad flanged lid
• Dimensions: diameter 21.7 cm; height 15 cm
• Weight: 2,977 g
• Condition: excellent; no chips, cracks, crazing or restoration
• Buyer profile: collectors of South African studio pottery; anyone who values handmade stoneware in the Leach tradition

Collector Appeal

Signed and dated pieces make it easy to place a potter’s work within his career, and this one comes from Morris’s mature period. The faceting, the generous lid and the confident brushwork show his skill as a maker and decorator in a single piece.

Made to hold something worth keeping, and worth keeping in its own right.