Chelsea Pottery (London)

Hi!
This is my only Chelsea plate, but I love it. Found it in the US - not very popular / known here. I looked through the thread but haven't found a name of a decorator that matches the initials in the signature. The plate is very thin and quite deep, with a foot. A real beauty.

it's a very nice design, I don't remember seeing a commemorative piece before

curiousclay wrote:Can you see the second photo? The signature is incised on the back.

ER is Elizabeth Regina (our Queen) and the date is her coronation year

Oh! I had no idea! That's a little embarrassing - I'd assumed EIIR were the artist's initials. Is there any symbolic significance to the rooster?

I wonder if the plate was made in 1953 as well. Would have been a very early piece.

I don't see a connection between the rooster and the coronation but I guess it depends on how you view the Royal Family

the pottery opened in 1952 so I suspect the 53 date is correct as date of production

I believe there’s another one on the thread that was also made during the Coronation, but the decoration isn’t Coronation inspired so probably just a marketing gimmick

Nice plate. See my long Angel Fish plate post earlier. That is not a normal dish. Hold on to it.

Just found your Angel fish, thank you for the prompt! It's beautiful! The handwriting on the back is different from mine, so it must have been a different decorator.

I wish there were photos of the backs of the VA plates.

I had one of these thinly thown bowls (see earlier in the thread).
Probably thrown by Frank Spindler. Can't make out a signature on
the front, a fantastic clourful early piece.

Just found another commemorative bowl online - it's the same shape as mine. Sold at an auction two years ago.

So I have a fish one and the V&A are of the same series. There is a bird one posted on this thread also. I've been watching out for them over the last few years. One sold on ebay for very little while back. They do come in various sizes the one i have is 300mm (12inch) but the auction one you posted is 200mm (8 inch). I did not realise there were other commemorative scenes. So interesting TY for posting.

I have to say that they don't all seem to be of the same standard so yes several persons must have decorated them. I still think someone like Joyce threw them because they are of the ilk of the wafer thin and tapering towards the rim that I have mentioned before, someone knew how to throw and was showboating.

it looks like the earlier work was of higher quality

Hello I found this forum by accident and thought Chelsea Pottery collectors might like the
information I could provide.
I was a decorator at Chelsea from 1972 to 1982
and shared a room with Hazel Livi.
I specialised in commissioned / commemorative
pieces which required lettering as well decoration and also the non commemorative range.
I studied graphics and illustration at Folkstone School of Art and Canterbury College of Art.
In a pre computer age we had to be proficient at hand lettering.
Before designing and decorating at Chelsea I worked for The Royal Worcester Porcelain Company.
Working at the Chelsea Pottery was great fun.
Amazing that such a studio was tucked away just off the Kings Road.
The Pottery workrooms were situated on the first floor of 13 Radnor Walk accessed through an archway and across a cobbled courtyard. The office and kiln room were on the ground foor.
A very steep narrow wooden staircase led up to the
first part of the pottery workrooms.
This was run as a sort of pottery school/club where people could have lessons or work by themselves.
The commercial part of the pottery workrooms was further back and occupied about two thirds
of the space.
There were two floor to ceiling doors overlooking the courtyard which in summer opened to a balcony surrounded by a vine.
Frank Spindler used to throw the bowls and make the figures. He threw the bases of the figures then sculpted the bodies on top.
I loved his judges. Sadly I don't have one!
There were several other throwers over the time I was there but I'm afraid I can't remember their names.
Joan made the press molded dishes. Quartics and ovals and I can't remember her surname!
She used a stamp to mark the back.
The thrown dishes usually had Chelsea Pottery or just Chelsea written inside the foot ring.
Each decorator had their own separate workspace or tiny room except for Hazel and I who shared
a room.
The decorators I worked with included the
Joyce Morgan
Barbara Ross
Kim Warman
Hazel Livi
and Janice and Mary whose surnames I also can't remember!
We used to go to the Chelsea Potter pub up on the corner on a Friday lunch time, come back to work
then have to redo lots of it on Monday!
The Kings Road was lively, intesting and good fun place to be with lots of independent shops.
The famous Picasso Cafe was still there for toasted sandwiches and takeaway minestrone and interesting chat.
The technique we used at The Chelsea Pottery was
scrafitto but not on green ware.
The biscuit was dipped in tin glaze, left to dry then scratched through, spayed with various oxides, painted with the coloured glazes the sprayed with a top transparent glaze.
We carefully stacked them with torn telephone directory pages in between then put them on the shelves which stretched all along one wall.
Jim would collect them and take them all the way along the narrow workroom down to the kilns.
I don't know how he did it, down those steep,steep, narrow stairs!
I have very happy memories of my time at Chelsea.

Wonderful! Holly & welcome  

Don't go away we have a ton of questions!  

If you don't mind?

Hi Holly,
Thanks for sharing your experiences at the pottery, I have always wondered what it was like to work there and you described it so well!

Thanks for joining and adding to our knowledge base.
Did you have your own monogram?
I don't see your name on our Provisional lists.

I wonder if you have had time to browse through the previous pages in this thread,
and if you have any info to add to our scant attempts at identifications.

3 pin dishes. Last one might be by Hazel Livi

Hello everybody, I've just joined, although I've been reading this forum for a while.
I love Chelsea pottery and have a few pieces myself. I've found it all very interesting including HollyVS's recent post.
I'd like to post a photo on here of one of my dishes, but I'm not sure how to do it.

This is the favourite piece of Chelsea pottery that I own. I'd be grateful if someone could tell me who's the signature is ?

A close up of the signature.

I think it’s by Joyce Morgan. The J looks right and her monogram looks a bit like JCM so what looks like a U here is just the connection between the latters. Certainly it’s a quality piece; as good as any of her work.

Hi everyone. I've had a look back through the thread and it's very interesting. A lot of the names of decorators on the lists are either before or after my 10 years at Chelsea.
Brian Hubbard was a director.
Hazel Livi may also have been a director as well as a decorator I'm not sure.
The decorators who worked at Chelsea during my time there were :
Joyce Morgan
Hazel Livi
Barbara Ross
Kim Warman
Mary Fenton
Janice ?
and several more who were there for shorter periods of time.
I'm afraid I can't remember their names

Betty Dennison- Hunt mixed glazes, dipped biscuit and made cast ware.
Jim Rose packed and fired the kilns and did maintenance work. There was a blacksmiths forge at the back of the kiln room too.
Frank Spindler threw bowls and made the figures.
Joan ? Made the press molded dishes.

I have a few photos of the Pottery but moved house recently so they are in a box somewhere amongst many others!

The signiture on your bowl LynRich, does look as though it could beJoyce's even though it's not exactly like her usual signiture.
It's worth mentioning that sometimes if the base glaze was a little thick your signiture
had to change a bit to accommodate it.

Thanks for all your information Holly VS, and thanks folks for trying to decipher the signature on my dish.

I'll have a look though all the pieces on here &  see if I can find a similar decorating style. I must say it doesn't look like one of  JM's .

This one is very similar and by Jane Blackburne. Best to ask Wendy Blackburne at Cheddington Studios if the plate is one of hers

http://www.studiopotterywendy.com/communities/1/004/006/300/681/images/4551802478.jpg