Staffordshire Art Deco Gilt Framed Convex Wall Mirror

This attractive Art Deco (c.1920) Staffordshire pottery gilt framed convex mirror was manufactured by AJ Wilkinson Ltd of England. A.J. Wilkinson (Arthur J. Wilkinson, Royal Staffordshire Pottery) was a pottery or potbank at Newport in Burslem, owned by the Shorter family since 1894. A sprawling complex of bottle ovens, kilns and production shops, it lay beside the Trent and Mersey Canal, the artery which provided it with coal and the raw materials for earthenware. In its heyday it employed 400 manual workers. The pottery had formerly been operated in turn by Hopkin & Vernon, Hulme & Booth, Thomas Hulme, Burgess & Leigh, and Richard Alcock, who enlarged the works extensively. On Alcock's death in 1881, the owners became Wilkinson & Hulme and in 1885 to Arthur J. Wilkinson. The works at first produced earthenware for the home market, but later operations concentrated on white graniteware for the United States. Wilkinson introduced gold lustre on graniteware so was one of the first to introduce this overlay type pottery with metals. In about 1896 A. J. Wilkinson took over the Royal Staffordshire Pottery in Burslem. The pottery was managed by Colley Shorter, an affluent Victorian and his brother Guy. Colley, whose full name was Arthur Colley Austin Shorter (1882-1963). He moved in exclusive circles and had a taste for antiques and fine furnishings. His second wife was the famed ceramic designer Clarice Cliff.