Guy Sydenham

Guy Sydenham's work is so special - he is the kind of potter that made the sort of pieces that inspires people to want to have a go for themselves.. You see Federer's grace and think yep I'll give tennis a go, or back then Jose Maria Olazabal's creativity at golf and think yep that looks fun I'll give that a go... It is a genius gift that, and Guy had that gift, a gift that inspires others to want to try it for themselves - his pots have invention, humour and grace...

I especially love the mermaids they are from a different world - a world embedded to imaginations... I see them and i think how wonderful, wouldnt it be wonderful to give pottery a go!

I see that there is a G. S. mermaid for sale online at the moment, unusual in that it would seem to be quite an early, Poole pottery version, grey in colour rather than terracotta and not salt -glazed. Shame that there is some damage to an arm and the hair, otherwise I might have bid on it.

Been dropped

Guy would leave the most stunning examples out in his garden, the frost would chip off he extremities but he just figured he could mend them

Dan mermaids don't have 'extremities'

not if they're left out in the frost they don't

I bid £85 but someone wanted it more

Underbidder sucks. I've won some things as I've bid the extra pennies and got in earlier than someone else. You assume that the winner just bid £130 or something way over the top but strangely people do seem to come the the same valuation - he may have only bid 88 or 90

I have a very similar one in salt glaze and far more refined so it doesn't suck that much

If anyone here was thinking about buying A Potters Life II. Poole Pottery Revisited by Guy Sydenham and John Benfield. now is a very good time to buy a copy

I found this thread while searching the internet for information about Guy Sydenham and more specifically about the Bellarmines he produced. I'm hoping someone on here could answer a couple of questions which I'm struggling to find answers for. I understand Guy made the original batch of jugs as reproductions for a collector but I was curious if they were faithful copies of original 16th/17th Century items or if Guy had artistic licence to make something similar? I can see on later work he does a bit of mix and match with the cartouches but by that stage he may have been using the moulds to suit his taste rather than for a collector. In my mind I assumed that the collector wanted copies of museum pieces that he would have been unable to get hold of or something like that. My other question is how many Bellarmines did Guy make roughly? Were these things he was producing regularly or was it just a few limited runs?
The photo below is of mine (the one on the left) There are no maker's marks on the base or anywhere on the body of the jug but there's a small duck's foot imprint hidden in the beard. The detail and character in the face are just amazing but the overall quality is just flawless. I'm so impressed with the workmanship and the detail of the reproduction of the techniques that were used on the originals. The one on the right is by Reinhold Merkelbach circa 1903-1916.

hi, If you want see see many examples of german bellamines try to get a copy of german stoneware 1200-1900 by david gaimster, so called bellarmines were also made in london in the late 17th century albeit in limited quantities.

Guy made quite a few of them but I don't think he recorded how many
I doubt he ever used moulds as he enjoyed the carving process and was a master potter

Please correct me if I have got it wrong but I believe some of the ones made for an american collector were so good that they got sold as originals.
Go to the Poole images website and where the are a no. of good photos of bellarmines inc. one with 16 on a tabletop.

I remember he made them for an American collector

dantheman wrote:Guy made quite a few of them but I don't think he recorded how many
I doubt he ever used moulds as he enjoyed the carving process and was a master potter

I've compared mine to the one pictured on the Briglin website (sorry I'm not allowed to post links) and the face is almost identical apart from a few details which could be put down to how well the mould impressed the clay. I'd be surprised (and very impressed) if both were individually hand carved but it really looks like he took a mould of his original carving and used that to make more copies. I'm happy to be wrong about that though but it was probably an authentic technique used for the mass production of the originals.

I'd love to visit the bellarmine museum in Norfolk when the world gets back to normal. I'm sure the owner must have one or two of Guy's jugs there. I'm sure if Guy had seen some of his shipwreck bottles covered in barnacles he would have taken some inspiration to make some of his own too.

My guess is that he may have made a mould for the cartouches to apply to his bellarmines as many are exact copies.
For Guys replication of barnacle encrusted ceramics again I suggest you checkout www.pooleimages.co.uk

Thanks, I came across that site while looking for answers. I go back just to admire that chess set from time to time.

This one - I think they are applied / moulded also they are too good. If you look the crest on the front has marks all round where it could have been pushed on / fixed. The salt glaze on this one is supa orange-peely not just brown and gloopy.

That's the one. It's hard to replicate the photo exactly but you can see what I mean.

I was looking at images from the Bellarmine Museum in Norfolk today and noticed they've got a couple of Guy's jugs tucked away in the collection. I've emailed them to see if they have any interesting information about them.

There are 2 books covering his life and are very interesting on many levels

Hello I am terry davies, and i worked on Green Island, and took over the studio and kiln of Guy. I now live and work in italy.   www.terrydavies.it
 I am in the U.k reviewing some of my collection of Guy's work.