Ruskin Pottery Vase

A Ruskin pottery vase with a crystalline drip glaze in shades of blue and yellow. The vase is stamped ‘Ruskin’ to the base and dated 1930. It is in perfect condition with no damage or restoration. Ruskin Pottery was founded by Edward R. Taylor (the first Principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art) in 1898, and he made his son, William Howson Taylor (formally a student at the Birmingham School of Art) manager. The pottery was named after the artist, writer and social thinker John Ruskin; whose principles about beauty and quality they believed in. The pottery experimented with glazes, producing innovative designs across a range of items, from vases and bowls to jewellery and buttons. Ruskin Pottery was exhibited both in the UK and abroad at international fine art exhibitions – achieving grand prize in 1904 at the St Louis International Exhibition, giving them the recognition they needed. Further awards were gained at other international exhibitions, including Milan 1906; Christchurch, New Zealand, 1907; London 1908; Brussels 1910; Turin 1911; and Ghent 1913. When the studio closed in 1935 the formulae for the glazes and all the pottery documentation were deliberately destroyed, so that the unique Ruskin products could never be replicated.