Peruvian-style vessel

Manufacturer Linthorpe Art Pottery (English, 1879 - 1890)

DesignerDesigned by Christopher Dresser (1834 - 1904)

Artist Henry Tooth (English, 1842 - 1918)

CultureEnglish

Dateca. 1880

MediumGlazed earthenware

DimensionsOverall: 18 × 19.5 × 12 cm (7 1/16 × 7 11/16 × 4 3/4 in.)

MarkingsImpressed Linthorpe, facsimile signature Chr Dresser, 298, and HT (for Henry Tooth)

DescriptionPeruvian vessel comes from Christopher Dresser’s time at Linthorpe Pottery and demonstrates his engagement with ceramic artefacts of cultures outside the UK and Europe. Such artefacts were newly on display and accessible to Dresser at public museums in London, a consequence of an expanding empire with a collecting impulse. Dresser likely based the form of this work on a double-spout and bridge vessel made by the Nasca people in Southern Peru, which he could have seen in either the British Museum or the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria & Albert). Dresser’s rendering of a face on the front of the vessel is possibly a reference to the figurative imagery on Nasca ceramics (see G83.1.185 and G83.1.180).

The distinctive colouration at the top of the vessel is a credit to Dresser’s collaboration with artist Henry Tooth (1842 – 1918). Tooth was appointed to pottery manager of Linthorpe Pottery upon Dresser’s recommendation and experimented with firing and glazing techniques for the firm in the 1880s

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object numberG14.13.2

Classifications

European Ceramics

Sub-classification

English Earthenware

Collections