Rare Godwin vases.(Museum accessions)

The recent acquisition of a pair of lively and amusing nineteenth-century vases by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is a harbinger of the large exhibition on the aesthetic movement the museum is planning for 2010. The vases are the only known three-dimensional ceramic works by the pioneering architect and designer Edward William Godwin. One of the earliest admirers and collectors of Japanese art in England, Godwin produced forward-looking Anglo-Japanese furniture, and designed houses inside and out. It is not known what pottery made these vases (presumably the J. G. incised on the bottom stands for the potter), but the initials W. W. are believed to be those of William Watt, who made much of Godwin's furniture, and may have played a role in the production of the vases. Godwin published some designs for pottery, and there is correspondence between him and various firms, such as William Brownfield and Sons of Staffordshire, indicating his interest in producing such wares, but no examples of what he discussed are known today. The sgraffito decoration and cream slip glaze on these small vases, however, point to the West Country tradition. In 1851, for example, James Brannam of Barnstable exhibited a similar type of red clay ware covered with white slip and decorated with patterns scratched through the slip, just as has been done on this pair.

The decoration on the vases relates directly to designs by Godwin published in a furniture catalogue by Watt in 1877; on the cover are the open fan, the stork, and the roundels seen on the vases. Next to the stork on the vase illustrated at the left is Godwin's coffee table. In the catalogue he complains of others copying his ...