Bath Pottery - Steve Mills & Richard Freeman (see also John Shelly)

I have a large stoneware bowl  - dimension 11cm H and approx. 22cm W although it is ovoid in shape when viewed from above rather than round. The smaller bowls  - dimensions 7cm H and approx  12cm W2, are also ovoid in shape.

The larger bowl is unmarked
   

The smaller ones have BATH POTTERY and a monogram that appears to be JMH

   

apologies for reflections - the sun came out !!          Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Can you read the monogram? Looks like MH or HW to me.

I've come across a few bits of slipware marked Bath Pottery, but no name.
I've come across other pieces of pottery made in & near Bath, eg, by Steve Mills, Matt Waite and Richard Freeman, but they don't match the monogram.

It appears to be JMH with the upright of the J forming the left leg of the M and the right leg of the M forming the left side of the H .
However if it is Mark Hewitt as you suggest maybe what looks like the lower curve of a J is in fact a 'serif' on the M !!!!  

The Bath Pottery was started by John Shelly in 1951 and he sold it to Richard Freeman in 1956 and he seems to have been there until 1962.

Edited: See separate thread for John Shelly's work (Admin)
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t25877-js-mark-john-shelly

As far as I am aware John Shelly's work was all in red earthenware so this is likely to have been made when Richard Freeman owned the pottery or afterwards, if it remained as a pottery after 1962. Something that I am not aware of.

Richard Freeman is still around I believe but for a number of years he has produced sculpture in other media and is a Royal West of England Academician. I couldn't find a web site or email address for you to contact him though.

One thing for sure is that the potter's mark is not that of Mark Hewitt.

This is a long shot and I have nothing to suggest this other than Richard Freeman's wife's name is Janet. Could she have worked with him at the Bath Pottery before they married and the JMH is her mark with her middle name beginning with M and her maiden name beginning with H?

Thanks for all the thoughts!
I'd only managed to find the names of John Shelly and Richard Freeman associated with the pottery so maybe your reasoning could be the right one SP.
Maybe this is one of those ' we'll never know'
Thanks again

SP wrote, "This is a long shot and I have nothing to suggest this other than Richard Freeman's wife's name is Janet. Could she have worked with him at the Bath Pottery before they married and the JMH is her mark with her middle name beginning with M and her maiden name beginning with H?"

Sounds very likely to me

After Richard returned from Vellow to Bath, he seems to have chosen to keep a low profile concentrating on sculptural work and Teaching, so the name Bath Pottery lapsed until I re-established it in 1967.
In '78 it basically morphed into Bath Potters' Supplies, but I continued making, 'tho like Richard I assumed a lower profile and reduced output.
Since 2005 when we retired from BPS, I am back to only making pots as Bath Pottery, albeit in a lower volume, and concentrating on Wood Ash and recycled materials for my glazes.

I'm Steve Mills, Potter in the City of Bath, still making and high firing in Gas and Wood Kilns, though the latter is becoming hard work as Anno Domini catch up with me!

A pair of goblets stamped BATH - According to Yates Owen it's Richard Freeman's (correction, by Steve Mills) Bath Pottery stamp, used 1966-72

NaomiM wrote:A pair of goblets stamped BATH - According to Yates Owen it's Richard Freeman's Bath Pottery stamp, used 1966-72

Hi Naomi, actually those are my making and my stamp. Roughly 1968 to 1975. They are/were thrown using a Profile for the foot, and a knife cut stem. The bowl was subsequently changed to more of an open shape (1976-ish) rather than a tulip as it is easier to drink from. - Steve Mills

Mudslinger wrote:Hi Naomi, actually those are my making and my stamp. Roughly 1968 to 1975. They are/were thrown using a Profile for the foot, and a knife cut stem. The bowl was subsequently changed to more of an open shape (1976-ish) rather than a tulip as it is easier to drink from.

I should have thanked Steve Mills, aka mudslinger, for this info. Sadly he recently passed away.

I picked this piece of Bath Pottery up as part of an auction lot . Can anyone shed any light on when it was made and who made it? The closest things I have seen are Vellow bowls by Richard Freeman.

Richard Freeman worked at Bath pottery 1956-62 and used stoneware, He them moved to Vellow where he worked 1962-66.
Not a lot of value there tho.

JMH was the stamp used by a lady called Jean Halstead. My mother was good friends with her from the mid 1950s, around 1956-58.

My parents have many items of Bath Pottery - both the gold patterned and blue patterned - which seemed to be a big part of their output.

Many of these items have now come to me. Including many private family commissions and gifts with our family and christian names included in the decoration.

Jean was also a skilled painter and my parents gave a beautiful poppy head abstract by her.

I would think that between me and my parents we probably have the largest collection of surviving Bath Pottery items anywhere. Unless of course there are collectors out there actively buying it up.

If anyone knows Bath, the pottery was situated behind Jollys in an old shed. That part of Bath is now totally developed of course and no physical evidence of its exitence remains.

It's a shame that Bath Pottery items don't have a wider following. I grew up with them around the house and think they're beautiful.

Cheers
Andy

Many thanks for identifying the mark. Wonderful to hear personal stories of the pottery

Hi. Does anyone know the maker of this one please? Thanks Ian

Ahh ok not what I was expecting, Yes could be any number of potteries

Looks like Richard Freeman to me.

Interesting. I was expecting a white glazed base and white earthenware clay.
I’ve merged the two posts; best to keep all the info on one thread

Thanks again for the help. Having looked up Richard Freeman (a new one on me) it's definitely him.

Why? I admit it could be by him but without any mark it is impossible to be certain. That is, unless you contacted him, and he confirms that it is something he made back in the 1950s.

Why is it definitely him? Because I found a smaller version in exactly the same design when doing an image search.
Also, since then, and since my last post, I can just make out RF in the white part of the base.

Just checked google images and I think the one you found was by Vellow Pottery, by Richard Freeman before he sold the pottery to David Winkley

https://pin.it/mp7qnfirf4pq7m

These types of dishes were made by hundreds of potters in the 1950s and with no BATH POTTERY mark, no VELLOW mark and no Richard Freeman personal mark it is not possible to say that it was definitely by him or was made at either of these potteries. It maybe by him but unless he is asked (I know he was still alive a few years ago) then I can't see how anyone can say that it is definitely by him or where it was made.

Ian said he found an RF mark