This week we are sharing pieces from our collection of George Clews "Blue Chameleonware" Art Deco ceramics made in England in the Twenties and Thirties.
David Capper was the George Clews works manager who also developed the company's unique glazes and hand-painted surface decorations. Capper, and the other executives at Clews, recognized a growing English middle class which had a taste and a desire (and a modest budget) for handsome but affordable art pottery. This "aspiring" social class might not be able to afford the pricier works of a Ruskin Pottery (hand-thrown in small batches as they were), but they could afford slip cast (moulded) pieces which were then embellished with intriguing patterns a la mode. This provided a happy medium in the workshop: well-priced mass produced forms which were carefully (and artfully) embellished by hand (often painted by women, a respectable and desirable job at the time).
The tall "floor vase," shown above, is the largest Chameleonware piece I've ever found. It could be used as a smallish umbrella stand—though, given its age, rarity and price, I would keep it out-of-harm's-way on a shelf or sideboard. It would provide a terrific statement piece, the starring member which "anchors" a collection of smaller pieces surrounding it. A handsome "Indian Flame" pattern is hand-painted in shades of blue and brown.
Click on the photo above to learn more about this piece. Or click here to see an assortment of Chameleonware pieces currently on-offer in the LEO Design on-line store.
More Chameleonware pottery tomorrow and in the days to come.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248