Pair of Small Linthorpe Pottery Blue & Yellow Drip Glaze Vases c.1885

Attractive pair of Linthorpe Pottery vases. Dimpled baluster form with everted fluted rim. Streaked blue drip-glaze over a yellow ground. Linthorpe marks absent or likely obscured by heavy glaze - commonly seen with drip-glazed Linthorpe vases. The vases measure 12 cm in height and 8 cm diameter. In 1879 John Harrison (a local businessman) established Linthorpe Pottery in conjunction with Christopher Dresser, one of the most influential designers of the late 19th century. Dresser acted as artistic director at the Pottery until 1982 and continued to submit designs whilst the Pottery remained in production. Dresser recommended Henry Tooth, an artist from Buckinghamshire working at that time on the Isle of Wight, as pottery manager. Henry Tooth, with no prior experience of clay or pottery left Ryde for Linthorpe, spending time at the T.G. Green pottery in Church Gresley, Derbyshire to get a foundation in ceramics. Henry Tooth had brought Richard Patey with him from the Isle of Wight, who managed the pottery after he left in 1882 (to establish to Bretby Pottery in partnership with William Ault).