Wedgwood Pottery - Keith Murray designs

......................... and I forgot to add that it would have been worth more 20 years ago when I was dealing in the stuff.

Thank you so much Kurt for your help.... that is more information that I expected and I think I will take your advice and try and sell it on around the jubilee in June.... better than sitting on my kitchen window sill!!!

Little Rhoo :)

A matt green 4321 vase




A straw 4323 vase




A Bronze Basalt 3868 vase




A Grey 3801 vase

very nice pieces indeed-do you have a copy of the wedgwood catalogue of all his shapes-I can send you a photocopy if you like-its very interesting

andrew

Hi Andrew

Thanks for the offer - would love a photocopy. PM it to me when you've got a spare moment. All the best

Kurt

what does PM mean?

have you seen/read my chapter on keith murray in my 2002 book?

andywooders wrote:what does PM mean?

It means 'private message' Andy, you have a message facility at the top of the page

xx

andywooders wrote:have you seen/read my chapter on keith murray in my 2002 book?

Is that 20th Century Ceramic Designers in Britain? If so, yes, I have a copy - about the only book with much detail on his work. Leonard Griffins was meant to be writing a definitive book on Keith Murray about 10 years ago. I'm not sure what happened but it never appeared which is a pity.

I would never of bought that bronze basalt vase for a paltry 10€ if I hadn't bought that book first

hi ref the Murray catalogue-I only have an unbownd version but it is very interesting-email me your details as andycaseydesign@aol.com

my book is out of print and the publishers want to relaunch so hopefully we change some of the images-11 years is a long time in publishing andrew

Any Wedgwood/Keith Murray experts out there who might be able to give their opinion about a vase I
acquired recently (bought on impulse without previously knowing anything about the Wedgwood/KM connection!) ..?
(see photos)

It appears to be a two-tone glazed version of vase shape 3765 ("football"?) in green ("celadon" ?) and
off-white (cream?) (ground) but with slightly less pronounced annular stepping and no hanging-lip at the
opening rim.

The base has under-glaze impressed marks "WEDGWOOD", "MADE IN ENGLAND" and another mark (possibly
incomplete?) which could be interpreted as either "3", "W" or "M" (?). There are no other factory marks
or signatures.

I've searched the web but found nothing similar...
Is it a later/modernised version of the 1930's original?, - any ideas? (date, pattern etc)

...sorry, forgot to include photos in last post! - hopefully attached to this one

Hi

Nice vase. There is a variant on the football vase -shape 3802 - that came with the celadon glaze but this is the first time that I've seen the celadon glaze on a football vase. Having collected KM pieces for over 20 years and not come across one like this, combined with the fact that it doesn't have the the KM stamps strongly suggests that this is a trial piece. Whether it's from the pre-war production or the post-war preduction period is harder to determine as both the celadon glaze and the football shape were used during both periods.

If I was to guess, I would go for pre-war on the basis that the top lip is, as you say, not standard, which suggests that it could come from an early period when they were refining shapes and glazes.

Hope that helps

Kurt

Kurt. - Brilliant, - many thanks for that
....so, one for pride-of-place in the glass display cabinet, rather than for general everyday flower arranging on the window sill!

Following your information - found an image of vase shape 3802 [1935] on the Wedgwood Museum website
- which gives dimensions of 236mm (h) x 220mm (dia) ... which seemed huge!

have also seen different sizes online e.g. 200mm (possibly shape no. 3765?) and 185mm (shape no.?)
.... BUT mine is even smaller at roughly 145mm (h) x 150mm (dia.)!
- how many sizes were there ?


Antique-Collecting UK website: Re: two-tone wares - "....from January 1937...  ...celadon green slip on a cream-coloured body.." ..[lathe turned] .. ".. to expose the lighter colour beneath the slip..".

Thanks again

Hiya

Shape 3802 only came in one size which is about 9.5 inches tall.

However, football vases like yours (Shape 3765) came in three different sizes - Small (6 inches), Medium (7.5 inches) and Large (9 inches).

As the vases were hand-thrown, there are slight variations in height between individual vases, so at 145mm your vase will be one of the Small vases.

Very much a pride of place piece - KM collectors would be very keen to have it in their collections.

picked up this Keith Murray charger today a few marks but no chips or cracks

Nice - fill the bowl with warm water and a bit of bleach ( non coloured) and it will remove the stains.

Very rare Keith Murray Football vase in April Green