Four early Clarice Cliff Autumn Crocus octagonal tea plates with vivid paintwork and boldly executed crocuses. The underside to each is stamped "Hand painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff, Newport Pottery England". These were painted before the crocus pattern stamp had been created, as "Crocus" is simply painted freehand in green to the underside of each, which dates them to 1928/29. Crocus in its first incarnation was big and bold, as painted here - yet costs were high for these bright enamels and cutbacks came later, resulting in the crocuses becoming smaller. Early Crocus is the tops!...and becoming harder to find these days.

We are selling these plates individually at £75 each, so once you have studied the images, please make your choice in the box below.

History

Clarice Cliff (1899 – 1972) is one of the most renowned and accomplished ceramic designers of the twentieth century, and her ground-breaking Bizarre ware created from late 1927 through to the mid-to-late 1930s has - quite understandably - achieved worldwide recognition. Born in Tunstall, Stoke On Trent, UK, the heart of The Potteries, the ambitious Clarice Cliff worked her way up from modelling, gilding, outlining and enamelling in various ceramic producing factories until she became art director at A J Wilkinson, aged 30; unheard of, and a first, for a women - not a man - to be in such a senior position and in a highly prestigious firm.

Clarice was then given her own studio at the adjoining Newport Pottery, where she experimented with on-glaze enamel colours on factory seconds that had imperfections. Her Original Bizarre patterns were based around triangles, big and bold, which hid any defects to the bodies of the ceramics, and, more importantly, because they trail-blazed the new modern jazz-age look, which other UK potteries had failed to embrace, they proved to be an instant success. Clarice then developed her crocus pattern (more on which below) and her own ground-breaking modern shapes (that we now call Art Deco) to tie in with a vast range of her newly designed patterns, from stylised landscapes and florals to bold cubist, geometric and abstract designs that she developed from 1928. It is no wonder that her work is so fervently sought after, and has been since the 1970s. It’s full of such joy, such style and such fun - and nothing then or since can compete with its unparalleled uniqueness.

Crocus

In 1928 Clarice produced her signature and best-loved design, Autumn Crocus. A simple, joyous, hand-painted pattern of crocus flowers in vibrant orange, blue and purple. Each flower was composed by using upward brush strokes while holding the piece upside down; the thin lined leaves were then added among the flowers.  Yellow banding above and brown below, to denote the sun and earth, was added to vases, bowls, and tea wares to ‘frame’ the flowers. Crocus was painted on every shape imaginable in the Bizarre shop, where paintresses - the Bizarre Girls - were trained on how to execute the pattern. Each decorator applied just one petal colour, and then a ‘leafer’ finished the pattern before a bander and liner added the brown and yellow banding. Everything hand-painted, and by a team of experts - so simple, yet so exceptional. We love Crocus, and the octagonal tea plates we offer here stand testament to the marvel that was Clarice Cliff at the beginnings of her Bizarre range.

Material: glazed earthenware

Manufacturer: Wilkinson Ltd, UK

Designer: Clarice Cliff 

Year of manufacture: c.1929

Dimensions of teapot: Diameter 17.5cm

Condition: very good, without chips, cracks or restoration - just a wee scratch to the glaze here and there and a few flakes to the green paint on the rim edges, which is always to be expected. The images of the plates stacked show the rims on all sides, plate A is at the top, and plate D is at the bottom of the stack. Here's a full condition report on each:

A) Minuscule scratch to centre and two tiny flakes to green edge.

B) Small scratch to centre and one tiny flake to green edge.

C) Small scratches to centre and four tiny flakes to green edge

D) Small scratches to centre.