Beaker
Louise Powell (1882-1956)
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1913
Materials
Stoneware body with lustre glaze
Measurements
4.375 ins (h)4.125 ins (dia)
Order this imageCollection
Shaw's Corner, Hertfordshire
NT 1274560
Summary
A hand-painted beaker by Louise Powell (1882-1956). Artist monogram “LP” and “455”. Circa 1913. With decoration in the form of bands of blue leaves and berries, and brown 5-lobed leaves. A similar leaf inside base.
Full description
A beaker decorated by Louise Powell (1882-1956). Louise studied Arts and Crafts embroidery and calligraphy, and her husband Alfred Powell (1865-1960) was an Arts and Crafts architect and designer. Together Alfred and Louise Powell became celebrated as pottery designers for Wedgwood, particularly for their achievements in the revival of the art of hand-painting on pottery. The Shaws purchased numerous pieces of their work throughout their marriage, and regarded the couple as close friends. The Powells and their assistants decorated mass-produced blanks with William Morris-inspired motifs of stylised flowers and animals, which would be sent back to the Wedgwood factory for firing after decoration. The pieces owned by the Shaws were the expensive ceramics hand-painted by either Alfred or Louise Powell themselves (not those produced commercially by their studio assistants). Shaw became interested in Louise’s artistic background given that she had worked as a calligrapher on two of William Morris’s illuminated manuscripts. Charlotte’s diaries reveal the two couples meeting regularly at Adelphi Terrace, and the Shaws visiting the Powells in Gloucestershire. Shaw maintained an interest in ceramics and the firm of Wedgwood throughout his life, and in 1930 he visited Stoke to attend the Wedgwood Bicentenary Pageant. (Alice McEwan, 2020)
Provenance
The Shaw Collection. The house and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust by George Bernard Shaw in 1950, together with Shaw's photographic archive.
Marks and inscriptions
On base, in brown under glaze, "LP" monogram and "455"
Makers and roles
Louise Powell (1882-1956), ceramicist Wedgwood, porcelain manufacturer