59 - DISH: Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, Etruria; decorated by Alfred Powell, c. 1908

Summary

Cream-coloured earthenware painted underglaze with details overglaze in enamels. Marks: ‘WEDGWOOD’ impressed, AP monogram and ‘455’ in black. Diameter 47 cm. C.49–1972.

By the late nineteenth century the increasing use of transfer-printed decoration had brought about a decline in free-hand painting on ceramics. A revival began at Wedgwood's in 1903 when Alfred Hoare Powell (1865–1960) began his long association with the firm as a designer and decorator. In 1906, in conjunction with Wedgwood, he set up a studio at 20 Red Lion Square, London, where he and his wife, Louise Lessore, decorated pottery sent from Etruria. They also made regular visits to the Etruria factory, where they trained paintresses and revived some late eighteenth-century hand-painted patterns.

In his youth Alfred Powell had been inspired by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement and he always remained true to them. The influence of designs by William Morris and Sir Edward Burne-Jones is apparent in the decoration of this dish. The animals amid oak foliage and daisies in pots are reminiscent of the backgrounds of the medieval-style tapestries made by Morris and Company at Merton Abbey. A similar dish with a peacock in the centre is in the Zeitlin Collection.

Many of Powell's designs were based on plant and animal motifs, others incorporated architectural views and calligraphy. These were too intricate for repetition on a commercial scale, but both he and Louise Powell created simpler patterns which were adapted for factory production during the 1920s and 1930s.