Child's tea service
Grimwades Ltd
Category
Ceramics
Date
Unknown
Materials
Ceramic
Measurements
50 mm (Height); 115 mm (Diameter)155 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Hill Top, Cumbria
NT 641501
Caption
Beatrix Potter is one of the world’s most loved children’s authors and illustrators. She collaborated with many manufacturers to create merchandise for the characters brought to life in her ‘Little Books’. Working with her publisher, Frederick Warne & Co., Potter’s product lines (or ‘side-shows’, as she called them) ranged from board games and wallpaper, to figurines and handkerchiefs. Letters between Warne and Potter indicate that she was closely involved in the development of her merchandise and was protective of her intellectual property. She expected her product lines to be of the highest quality, but also to reflect the spirit of her original creations. In 1922 the Stoke-on-Trent manufacturer Grimwades Ltd began to produce children’s tea-sets decorated with her characters, including Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin and Tom Kitten. It was not an easy relationship. The agreement had originally been signed in 1917, but labour and material shortages caused by the First World War resulted in long delays. Potter was frustrated, particularly given the constant threat of unofficial merchandise entering the market. In 1921 she wrote to Warne, ‘It is provoking that Grimwade [sic] does not get out the authorised tea service and stop the gap. There is no doubt the ware would sell.’ While she was broadly happy with the quality of the pieces, sales were initially disappointing, partly as Grimwades’ representatives had been unable to get the stock into china shops, leaving Warne to sell the majority of sets through its own trade contacts. The prominent mark incorporating Potter’s full signature is a little unusual for the 1920s, when designers were not usually named by ceramic manufacturers. However, this period saw an increasing number of women ceramic designers recognised clearly for the first time, with marks bearing their full names appearing on the underside of pieces.
Summary
Set of Grimwade Peter Rabbit pattern children's ware comprising teapot, two egg-cups, milk-jug, three cups, three saucers, two side-plates.
Makers and roles
Grimwades Ltd, manufacturer
References
Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 182-5