Classic Art Ware - Debateable origins

[islandretro]

I have been thinking about and discussing with various collectors the origins of Classic Art Ware pottery for quite some time now, and since the publication of the 2nd People's Potteries book and the attribution of the label to John Barnard Knight, and subsequently the attribution of some CAW pieces to JBK in an upcoming Australian Pottery auction, I have decided to "go public" in the hope of flushing some information, or at least informative debate out of the woodwork 🙂

As I have said else where, I don't agree with Dorothy Johnstons attribution of this label to John Barnard Knight, a Melbourne potter associated with the label Janet Grey. I, (and others, not having come to this conclusion in isolation, I have talked to various collectors), believe there is a connection with Delamere Art Pottery from Sydney; whether this was a label attached to their wares sold through a certain outlet or a range they sold themselves similarly to Diana's Hollywood or Pate's Regent labels no one is sure.







Anyway - here are some photos for you to see labels on various CAW pieces that have always been attributed to Delamere (except the Koalas which are attributed only to CAW and the frog in the 1st pic which has a Delamere sticker). Aside from this there is continuity of glaze colour, and various motifs common over CAW and Delamere attributed pieces I can post pics of as well if anyone is interested, to support this theory.

Hoping there are some other CAW/Delamere collectors reading who might have info to share

cheers
Rae

[islandretro]

Okay, here are some pics, to illustrate my theory that CAW and Delamere are the same pottery. If the similarities between the glazes, the detail, and the motifs (the gumnuts and leaves, the type of incising to the log detail, the colour etc) were not consistent then I might be inclined to take the view CAW was distribution label for a number of potteries, but I think the evidence supports that the CAW labeled pieces were made at the same pottery the Delamere pieces were.

These pieces are all attributed to Delamere, I think that this is correct




These pieces are attributed to CAW,




These pieces I believe show that pieces attributed to CAW and Delamere share glaze colour and detail




The colours on the leaves on the big bowl are identical to those on the budgies. the budgies all share the same distinctive colours. 2 budgie pieces have the distinctive sponged Delamere finish, one is on a CAW stump. The frog in the Delamere sponged float bowl is the same as the frogs in the previous pics in my first post labelled CAW. The jug in the 3rd pic is found with the CAW label. Also not the similarilty between all the gumnuts and gumleaves on the various pieces.

I have more pics but no time atm.

Any thoughts on this? Sorry that a couple of these are bit out of focus when enlarged as well but not the "critical" ones 🙂
cheers
Rae

[wilneil]

A picture of the base of the Kiwi and a couple of pictures of the backstamp on the little vase. Be interested to see who the maker is.

Rae, nice photos of the pieces from your collection, even I can see that they are very similar and you are right, they most likely do come from the same factory.

Wilma

[wilneil]

Would be helpful if I put in the pictures:







Wilma

[jvharrison]

I have been thinking about and discussing with various collectors the origins of Classic Art Ware pottery for quite some time now, and since the publication of the 2nd People's Potteries book and the attribution of the label to John Barnard Knight, and subsequently the attribution of some CAW pieces to JBK in an upcoming Australian Pottery auction, I have decided to "go public" in the hope of flushing some information, or at least informative debate out of the woodwork 🙂

As I have said else where, I don't agree with Dorothy Johnstons attribution of this label to John Barnard Knight, a Melbourne potter associated with the label Janet Grey. I, (and others, not having come to this conclusion in isolation, I have talked to various collectors), believe there is a connection with Delamere Art Pottery from Sydney; whether this was a label attached to their wares sold through a certain outlet or a range they sold themselves similarly to Diana's Hollywood or Pate's Regent labels no one is sure.







Anyway - here are some photos for you to see labels on various CAW pieces that have always been attributed to Delamere (except the Koalas which are attributed only to CAW and the frog in the 1st pic which has a Delamere sticker). Aside from this there is continuity of glaze colour, and various motifs common over CAW and Delamere attributed pieces I can post pics of as well if anyone is interested, to support this theory.

Hoping there are some other CAW/Delamere collectors reading who might have info to share

cheers
Rae

Hi Rae...............and my eyes popped when i saw the KB in the branch of the tree..........i had an item identical to that.......sold on ebay just wondering if you bought it it off me:)

[islandretro]

Hi JV - nope that one isn't mine although I do have one as you can see in the 2nd lot of pics. I grabbed it from an internet search because it had the CAW sticker to illustrate my point - mine doesn't. If it is yours I hope you don't mind, its use is purely for research purposes! (I probably should have linked to it - sometimes all the fiddling about gets to be a nuisance though)

cheers
Rae

[islandretro]

Sorry, if you meant the smaller koala, it is mine and I did buy it on ebay 🙂

cheers
Rae

[jvharrison]

Hi JV - nope that one isn't mine although I do have one as you can see in the 2nd lot of pics. I grabbed it from an internet search because it had the CAW sticker to illustrate my point - mine doesn't. If it is yours I hope you don't mind, its use is purely for research purposes! (I probably should have linked to it - sometimes all the fiddling about gets to be a nuisance though)

cheers
Rae

Hi Rae..........and the one i had was the same as the last one..........cant remember what background i used when shooting it.........no biggie if it was mine....and you are right everything is so politically correct these days drives a person nutso lol

[oldworldlady]

I had an interesting conversation today at the Bunbury Collectors fair. A fairly reputable seller had the koala (bottom picture, Rae) for sale, so I asked what they knew about it.
i was told it was Florenz, almost certainly, and they wanted $439 for it with a big chip off one leaf...
I politely declined the sale. They wouldn't even knock $5 off it when I pointed out the chip. "It was only a little one" 😮 :^O

[islandretro]

Wow, I think they might be sitting on it for a while at that price OWL!

I am shocked people are still attributing these to Florenz, as they regularly turn up with CAW stickers and never a Florenz sig in sight. I bought my leaf wall pocket from a dealer a 2-3 yrs ago who also swore it was Florenz - I actually packed up all the bits I had at the time and took them in to her at her shop to prove my point - needless to say she now knows it wasn't Florenz at all.

But then she is English and her area of expertise is English stuff, I guess we can't keep up with everything and Oz pottery is such a minefield of misinformation and no information

cheers
Rae

[wyvernantiques]

Hi Wilma

I think as KF said your little vase is Tudorcraft (Scott Ceramics). I sold a similar one in blue recently:



This is a great thread on the CAW. It will be interesting to see what comes to light 🙂

Wyvern