Christopher Dresser for Ault; A Pair of Aesthetic Movement Art Pottery Twin Handled Vases c.1883

Origin: English
Period: Aesthetic Movement
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1883
Heights: 9.5” & 9.25”
Diameters: 6” at handles or 3.5” at bases

The wonderfully decorative pair of vases of footed ovoid form, being relief moulded with Chinese inspired geometric and lappet bands, two dog of fo head handles to each and glazed in jade green to pineapple yellow, fashioned by Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) for Ault Pottery in the high Victorian period.

The vases are in good overall condition, with one being very slightly smaller than the other. There are no chips or cracks. Akin to other vases Dresser created for Ault they are unmarked.

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) is one of the most important and celebrated designers of the arts and crafts and aesthetic movements. His designs were often Japanese inspired, as are these vases, and his sinuous forms are drawn from his training as a botanist.

Dresser, always a believer in the triumph of the machine, of replication and progress. The following statement shows how like the ideals of the movement his thinking was: 'The man who can form a bowl or vase well is an artist, and so is the man who can make a chair or table... the converse of the facts is also true; for if a man be not an artist he cannot form an elegant bowl, nor make a beautiful chair'. 

Ault Pottery was the ceramic firm to which Dresser supplied designs at the end of his career. Before working with Ault, Dresser supplied designs to the Linthorpe Pottery, and Dresser’s Linthorpe ceramics are the best known of his production in this medium. However, Dresser’s best work for Ault rivals that made at Linthorpe.

These vases are distinguished not only by their colourway but also by the complexity of the glazing, which uses the varying degrees of saturation of the yellow and green glaze for primary decorative effect. The Ault pottery has used the contours of the upper sections of the vases to allow the glaze to drip unevenly, thus creating a layered design. This model of vase is not a common one and to see a near pair is very unusual especially in this colourway.

A stunning pair of vases, and possibly unique ones, popping in such fantastic colours.