Clarice Cliff

Celtic Harvest

Just need to make sure.................

Looks "right" to me other than being unmarked. (I'm no expert on her work, so this is just an opinion)

This shape is sometimes signed at the side (at the bottom between the "feet"), can you see anything?

Shape number 400. (Rose bowl I think)

Hi,

This piece is part of the collection I'm working on liqidating for the owner. It's a Newport Pottery piece with a Clarice Cliff art pattern. I can find references and pictures to similar pieces but no pattern name. The pattern name, if anyone knows it, and any other info regarding it, like what years it was made etc would be most appreciated. It's basically a pattern with a turquoise  band for trim with metallic gold (the pics look kinda coppery but it is gold)sailboats inset. TIA. Cheers





Extra Info from thD : Found out a little while ago. The pattern is called "Stralia" and is from the mid 30's.

http://www.claricecliff.co.uk/patterns/index.html

studio-pots wrote:I used to collect Clarice Cliff in the 1980s and it isn't a pattern that I've seen. It is possible that it was made for export, as the name and where you have found them does hint at that. The mid to late 1930s does seem right as the colour palette did become more restrained at that time.

Thanks. Every little bit of info helps.

Much appreciated.

thD

I don't know now whether my memory is playing tricks but ....
I was sold this little can by an antique dealer friend on the pavement in Mill Road in Cambridge. The cup was identifiable as cup but that was all; it was absolutely filthy. He knew it was Clarice because the mark on the base was visible but no more than that. I took a chance because he had kept it for me. The revelation of the pattern as I cleaned it is now always in retrospect accompanied, in my head, by the music from Fidelio where the prisoners are released into the sun. I could not believe how lucky I was as I gently uncovered the enamels and the Latona glaze and realized exactly what I had bought. If only I could find a saucer to go with it....

Graham Sutherland for Clarice's Artists in Industry 1935. It was a large, wide-ranging project with a lot of artists and manufacturers/producers involved. Some artists got really involved and others took it less seriously........

"Graham, It's that woman on the phone again. She wants to know if you've got any designs sorted out yet because she says it takes quite a long time to produce some pottery and the exhibition is at the end of the week........"
"Bloody hell! Here, send her this. I've seen some of her stuff and she wouldn't know art if it bit her in the arse!"
"Are you sure dear? If you don't mind me saying..er..it's not..er..it's not as..err...surreal as some of your other work."
"Hmmmmm, I could argue that it depends on what you think it represents. I could argue that, if I could be bothered, WHICH I CAN'T!"
"(sotto) Whatevs.."

I bought this Clarice Cliff off Ebay for £25...+ £5 post , ( not for me originally) the backstamp has Fantasque Bizzare , but also an impressed mark 11 over 32 and a small lozenge , am I correct in assuming this is the 11th monther over 1932 yr or not , it's got quite a bit of crazing and 4 round indent places I assume for egg cups measures 17cm across , also does the pattern have a name , other than Fantasque I mean the actual crappy scene , Ed

It's the Mountain pattern produced 1931/2.

As I think I mentioned in the past the first pottery that I ever collected was Clarice Cliff - I'm not sure any of you believed me!

You are correct Ed that the piece was produced in November 1932. It could have been decorated later but by then they had become quite busy so blanks didn't hang around too long.

Have any of you ever seen this CC pattern? I would never have recognised it! It belongs to a friend and I said I'd ask you guys and gals about it.

It looks fairly typical of the rather conservative kind of pattern shown in this 1947 advert for the AJ Wilkinson/ Newport pottery conglomerate.
http://www.thepotteries.org/advert_wk/1947/shorter.jpg

I vaguely remember hearing/reading that there was a phase when they marked patterns with her name that were just approved by her as design director rather than being her own work.

Well worn and chipped but an unusual pattern which I think is called "Umbrellas and Broth" if memory serves. I too started out collecting Clarice, info mainly, as the actual product was far too expensive for my threadbare pocket. Got waylaid by Leach and KPB and watches and Aleluia and ....etc........There is so much stuff to learn about!!!

Just remembered. This golden coloured stamp was only used for a few months around 1928/9  I think. I've only ever seen one example before.

As an example of the kind of rather un-Deco things that she got her name put onto, today I saw a rather ordinary-looking sauceboat and dish - transfer-printed I think - described on the backstamp as "Old Bristol Porcelain ..... Reproduced by Clarice Cliff".

Odd that i can't find another cup & saucer in this Sunkissed pattern anywhere. Might also be odd to have a dinnerware stamp on a cup and saucer. I guess the pattern wasn't originally mean't for cups and saucers. The saucers, although they have the same backstamp, may be oddities as they don't match the cups, unless they were made to be like that, no idea.

NaomiM wrote:May be a late production where the company was sticking her name on old stock

I think by the end she owned the company after marrying the owner Colley Shorter in 1940. So strictly speaking I think she put her own name on everything.
These late wares got sent far and wide and you do find bits just made for countries like Australia. Could be an export design?

Seems the design was made after 1952 according to the book, Clarice Cliff: The Art of Bizarre. I've managed to find a teapot, no cups yet though.

Any Clarice Cliff collectors out there ...

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/antiques-roadshow-plate-valued-whopping-23718573

Prices may go up once the film is out....

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/17/a-beacon-of-change-new-film-to-celebrate-life-of-ceramicist-clarice-cliff