MATERIAL REVIEW.
POOLE POTTERY.
CARTER, STABLER AND ADAMS, POOLE, ENGLAND. WERE it not for the fact that its replacement is a costly busi- ness, one might contend that the only redeeming quality in most of the pottery manufactured for use is its fragility. People of taste usually keep their crockery in sight-proof cupboards and bring it out only when required, in the ardent hope that the function of eating may have an hypnotic influence upon their guests' aesthetic perceptivity.
But it is possible to obtain, at a reasonable price, a thoroughly good hand-painted pottery-ware, which combines beauty with use.
Two years ago Carter's, the well-known firm of potters, went into partnership with Harold Stabler, the celebrated decorative artist, and John Adams, an artist craftsman whose earlier experiments in pottery attracted the attention of all lovers of the craft. So in the firm of Carter, Stabler and Adams one has, so far as the public is concerned, the ideal union of commerce with art.
The examples of Poole pottery which I saw in an exhibition at F. and C. Ostler's, Ltd., 100 Oxford Street, W. 1, range widely, from domestic ware to highly decorative vases, and, being past the experimental stage, the ware can be accurately repeated. This does not mean that each object has that neat glossiness which recalls the advertised qualities of certain popular brands of boot polish. Most of the pottery has a beautiful egg-shell finish, retained in the over-glaze decoration by fusing it into the opaque grey glaze which forms the back- ground of the design—both glazes being fired together at the high temperature. This method will restrict the variety of colour-schemes a little but will add a greater permanence to the decoration ; for certain over-glaze colours, which can only be fired at the lower temperature of the muffle-kiln, are inclined to wear off in time. The colour-schemes of the ware, however, are sufficiently varied to satisfy the most fastidious purchaser, while the designs, always sane, well balanced, original, and suited to their medium, are unlike the usual commercial over-glaze designs which try to lose their derivative sterility in an extravagant maze.
This pottery, still preserving the character acquired from being thrown on the wheel, has yet a degree of finish and permanence in glaze not shared by that class of crude, hand- made pottery known as "Peasant." - I was particularly attracted to an exquisite fruit set con- sisting of fifteen pieces, each of which was decorated with an admirably conventionalized floral pattern in turquoise green, red-purple, and blue-purple, against a ground of pearly grey. The over-decoration was correctly fused into the grey without losing the integrity of the pattern. In my opinion, the complete set is well worth the Et 2s. 6d. at which it was priced.
The children's toilet sets of six pieces, with their naive animal patterns, should find ready sale at 22 15s. amongst those parents who do not underestimate the value of environ- ment as a factor in the subsequent development of the child.
There were some mugs, from is. 9d. to 8s., which will appeal to all children. Some of the other pots in modern majolica of an intense turquoise shade are worthy of note.
Carter, Stabler and Adams are to be congratulated on the high standard they are maintaining.
W. MCCANCE.
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