Tag Archives: Doulton

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An A-Z of Collecting Royal Doulton – Awards

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From the 19c into the 20c Doulton was represented at all the major exhibitions and has been detailed in the great tomes on the Royal Doulton Potteries by Eyles and Irvine, the company itself won many of the major prizes at these exhibitions. The first exhibition Doulton took part in were in 1851, the year of the great Crystal Palace exhibition.

One of 9 awards given to Doulton at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.

The awards mentioned are but a selection from the hundreds the company won over the centuries. The first offerings presented were of utilitarian nature such as drain pipes and sanitary wares as one would expect.

At the South Kensington Exhibition of 1871 Doulton showed their first selection of set pottery, Sir Henry having been persuaded to branch out into art pottery.

A mere five years after this, Doulton presented over 1500 items at the American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. At the Chicago exhibition of 1893, Doulton won more prizes than any other pottery in the world. The success in Chicago brought the award tally then to 94 Gold medals and 1st class awards, plus 101silver medals and second class awards.

The Peggy Davies study that won the Grand Prix at Brussels in 1958.

The last of the major world exhibitions took place in Brussels in 1958 and befittingly, Doulton won the only Grand Prix awarded to a British pottery firm for the Peggy Davies study ‘Art and Technology’. Manufactures were subsequently not included in world exhibitions.

Here is a selection of Doulton’s awards…..

  1. Philadelphia 1876
  2. Cork 1883
  3. Wirral 1874
  4. Paris 1889
  5. Lyon 1872
  6. London 1839
  7. London 1904
  8. Trieste 1891
  9. London 1851
  10. Caen 1867
  11. Cornwall 1876
  12. Folkestone 1921
  13. York 1879
  14. Brussels 1910
  15. St Louis 1904
  16. Melbourne 1880
  17. Chile 1875
  18. Versailles 1873
  19. London 1862
  20. Hamburg 1863
  21. Paris 1878
  22. London 1865
  23. Vienna 1873
  24. Cape Town 1877
  25. Far worth 1876
  26. Tasmania 1891
  27. Chelsea 1905
  28. Birmingham 1872
  29. Columbia 1892

That is not to mention the individual awards won by the company’s artists for their work for the great firm. 

Images from the Royal Doulton Review 1980.
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Something magical this way comes…. A 1918 Royal Doulton china box with wizard final in Titanian.

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Of the handful of china boxes produced by Doulton in the first decades of the 20c, few can be said to be as rare as this example. Featuring a wizard as the box’s finial and with sterling silver mounts, it is the epitome of frivolity from the deco period. 

The box can be traced through the model book and is model 217 and it caries an impressed date of 1918. This model, like a handful from the early HN range was produced on a Titanian body, to enhance the colour of its eventual decoration. 

The auction will take place at 2pm on Wednesday 10thSeptember at Adam Partridge’s Macclesfield saleroom, here is a link to the website

https://auctions.adampartridge.co.uk/auction/search/?au=177

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Royal Doulton Sung coming up at Lion and Unicorn Auctions.

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Charles Noke continued to experiment with glazes long after the departure of Cuthbert Bailey with whom he had perfected the Flambé glaze in the early 1900’s, along with the master potter Bernard Moore. And so in 1920 Sung was introduced, whereby painted decoration, colour and gilt are fused with the a flambé glaze.

 However, it is in the flesh that these pieces must be enjoyed to full effect as in this slide. Vases, large and small were decorated with exotic birds, pixies in woodlands, fish in seascapes along with many other subjects. 

These pieces were painted principally by Harry Nixon, Arthur Eaton and Fred Moore. Sung glazes can be found on Buddhas, as seen here in this advert from the 1920’s, a handful of suitable early figures from the HN range such as A Spook, as well as animals, in particular elephants, a favourite of Charles Noke.

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Introductions are certainly needed for this Royal Doulton prototype One of the 40 coming up at Adam Partridge Auctioneers this week!

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Although there are officially 13 different models for Tittensor‘s group representing the famed 40 thieves from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, there are four further diminutive models that were only produced as prototypes, this exciting find being one of them.

What makes this chap stand further out from the crowd is the wonderful Sung and lustre glaze that has been given to him, which just adds to his charm.

For further information please contact the auctioneers.

Artists, Burslem, C. J. Noke, Eastern delights, Figure Articles, Figure inspiration

Come one, come all….another wonderful early Royal Doulton figure coming up this week – A Mandarin!

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Collectors will certainly be spoilt for choice this week at Adam Partridge Auctioneers.

As part of the fabulous collection they are putting under the hammer this week is this early and rare Charles Noke Model ‘A Mandarin’ introduced in 1918.

The auctioneers write:

CHARLES J NOKE FOR ROYAL DOULTON; ‘A Mandarin’, a very rare figure, HN791, 1st version, model 189, (26-36), ‘Royal Doulton’ backstamp, ‘A Mandarin’, ‘C.J. Noke. sc.’ and ‘Potted by Doulton & Co’ handwritten in black script, impressed marks, height 25cm.

This is believed to be the only known version of HN791 and is actually the figure illustrated in Eyles (D) & Irvine (L) & Baynton (V), Royal Doulton Figures, published Richard Dennis, 2004, page 91.

The model is as inspired by an Edmund Dulac illustration in his Picture Book for the French Red Cross from 1915. Several other important figures can be traced to this book including the legendary Princess Badoura and several of the One of the Forty (Thieves) models.

Dulac’s original illustration that inspired Noke.
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Another exciting discovery coming up this week – Guy Fawkes HN 445!

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Rarely does such an impressive grouping of early Royal Doulton figures come onto the market, but Adam Partridge Auctioneers have certainly pulled it out the bag this week!

Here is the super rare HN 445 Guy Fawkes not previously illustrated. He is model 226 originally introduced in 1918 as HN 98 in the typical red cloak, this slightly later version from 1921 features a lustrous green cloak and fabulous all round painting!

Famed as we Brits know is famed for his plot to blow up Parliament on Nov 5th 1605.

This large size Harry Tittensor model was produced in three colourways; this being the last introduced in 1921 and available to order until the 1930s, although no other examples in green have turned up. He was later produced in miniature HN 3271 remodelled by Peter Gee in 1989.

Art deco, Championship Dogs, Doulton animals

Collecting Royal Doulton dog heads

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As we gear up for the next Lion and Unicorn auction on Sunday, what better time to look back at this rather unusual derivative of Doulton’s famous championship dog collection also from the 1930s.

As well as seven different dog models, of which the setter, for example, was produced in a black colourway too, there is also a rare fox head model.

These animal heads are typically found – when they do turn up – mounted on wooden ovals, as illustrated in this original publicity shot from the 1930s.

The heads that appear to have been produced are a fox, a Pekingese, a cocker spaniel, an Airedale, a Sealyham, a foxhound and English setter and an Irish setter.

Lion and Unicorn Auctions have a selection of these rare heads coming up in their Horse and Hound sale 14.04.24!

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Introducing (Royal) Doulton’s Robert Allen, who ran one of the main studios at Nile Street.

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Robert Allen began work at Nile St. when it was still owned by Pinder Bourne, after a brief period at Minton’s as a boy worker. Robert flourished under the guidance of John Slater, then art director, eventually taking over a painting department of his own. Work from his department is denoted by his initials R.A. followed by a number. Robert Allen’s own signed work is however, rare. Yet, he and his department were entrusted with much of the finest and most expensive decoration carried out at Burslem notably for the great exhibitions at which Doulton exhibited from the late 19thcentury. Robert was notably involved in the early development of Titanian ware.

Robert Allen in his studio c1910

The versatility of the RA studio meant that artists there worked on all manner of Doulton wares from early Vellum figures, to tablewares, to exhibition wares and even glaze wares.

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Royal Doulton’s rare Double Spook!

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Royal Doulton’s rare Double Spook!

Among the earliest of figures produced as part of the HN series sits Soooks HN 88. Not only do they represent the whimsical but also the often dark humour of the time.

Noke’s Spooks were made as a companion figure to Harry Tittensor’s A Spook HN 50 introduced in 1916. Whilst there were several colourways of the latter, only three official versions of Spooks were produced. Both models were withdrawn by 1936, although in reality any that were made later in this timeframe were likely to be one off special orders, as with all the early figures.

Returning to our star piece today, the colours are typical of other figures in the HN range from the 1920s where multiple firings achieved wonderful effects. The greens, purples, blues and reds are all reminiscent of Harradine’s deco beauties.

The example illustrated is coming up at Lion and Unicorn auctions and the model is clearly dated 1924 with a model number 211.

Series ware, Seriesware

Royal Doulton’s seriesware design “Into the Land of Dreams“.

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Of the many seriesware designs produced from the late 19th and well into the 20th centuries, Into the Land of Dreams certainly counts as being one of the rarest for collectors to build a collection.

Toilet set recently sold at Sworders in the UK.

Produced between 1919 and withdrawn by 1932 few pieces have surfaced over the years and (if one can use the term) typically, it is wash sets that do turn up.

In Louise’s Volume 3 of Royal Doulton Series Ware, she lists 6 scenes for us to watch out for. Items found have been marked with either D4114 or D4484.

Toothbrush holder featuring scenes 5&6 as listed in RD Series Ware Vol.3.

The title for the design is taken from a poem by Stoddard King, which was popularised as a song during WWI.