HISTORY:
Another gorgeous example of classic 'leaf' Carlton Ware from England. Yes, this is another item with a 'story' behind it .... back in the 1930's Carlton Ware products began appearing on the market and were so popular at the time, some unscrupulous potteries began releasing copies of the original designs. Japan was the major culprit and Carlton Ware could do little to stop the copies until they "thought outside the box" and using a little known clause in the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) treaty, preventing signatories from copying each others product designs. Carlton Ware applied for many registered designs in Australia and marked their wares as "Designed in Australia" and the copying of Carlton Ware English products by Japan became illegal overnight - the trade in fake copied products stopped. Clever huh?
DLAT Rating: 9.5/10 (Darling Look At This!)
Those colours have NOT been enhanced, this is no insipid Green but it grabs the eye and demands attention!
CARLTON WARE - Leaf Bowl
Made in England (Stoke On Trent)
Medium size (see below for details)
Design: Distinctive Vivid/Lime Green detailed leaf with three areas of Orchid flower artwork, one being substantially larger than the remaining two. One 'end' of the oval shaped bowl has a small carry handle.
Hand painted
Circa 1935 ~ 1960's - this dating is based on the backstamp which was used by Carlton Ware during this period. We suspect that around the 1950's is most likely the time period (post WWII), based on the glaze condition which is amazing for the 70+ years!
DIMENSIONS:
Shape: Oval, deep bowl
200mm x 130m x 50mm deep
The dark Brown handle is a simple extension of the rim (representing a branch), just 10mm wide, so this is a 'finger tip' type of grip
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
Black print (under the glaze)
Carlton Ware
MADE IN ENGLAND
'TRADEMARK'
REGISTERED
AUSTRALIAN DESIGN
REGISTRATION APPLIED FOR
Artist marks are clearly visible above and alongside the backstamp
COSMETIC CONDITION:
This is the critical section, we have seen many examples of Carlton Ware with one thing in common, crazing (cracks in the glazing due to age, environment etc) which most often results in areas of the china showing as having a Brown stain. This is not a great look!
We go to great pains in an attempt to preserve the condition of our chinaware, as best we can, and this bowl is a perfect example of this ...
NO chips at all
NO fleabites
NO cracks
NO degradation of the colours, vivid and high gloss to the glaze.
This bowl is not faultless however and although minor, we must bring your attention to these small issues ...
Normal dry and wet testing of the bowl showed NO OBSERVEABLE CRAZING however there must have been a 'small' breakdown in the glaze as we have always noticed (these are not recent) three very small Brown 'spots' in one area ONLY, inside the bowl. The underside has no such marks or 'spots'
This means that in those areas the glaze has failed, a liquid has gone underneath the glaze and contaminated the clay which then shows as a small Brown spot. We have not attempted to remove these spots, in a way they are testiment to the age of the bowl! Some people like to 'treat' such chinaware with Chlorine or Hydrogen Peroxide, we don't think that is a good idea!
One of the photographs shows these 3 little spots highlighted ...
SPECIAL NOTE:
Some may consider this to be a fruit bowl, we never used it for that purpose. Why? The bowl is large but not THAT large, so it can only hold a few medium size fruit or more smaller varieties only. When loaded with fruit, that small side handle is just not enough to safely manage lifting the bowl with two finger tips!
Much better (from our experience) is to use it for 'sweeties', they are usually light, colourful and easy to manage in this bowl.
Lovely as it is, my wife wants to make more space for her other '1930's art china treasures' so this bowl needs to find a new home ...
