{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O8050"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8050/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH7629/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH7629/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH7629","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP5592","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O8050/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O8050","accessionNumber":"C.26-1971","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>This curious vase, with its narrow neck and apparently idiosyncratic design, functions less as a container for flowers and more as an ornament in its own right.  It is made of cast earthenware, the shape is Ault's No. 318  and the vivid yellow is one of the pottery's most distinctive glazes.  It was made as a mass-produced item, in several different colours.<br><br><b>Design & Designing</b><br>Dresser was interested in forms and ornament from a wide range of sources - from Medieval English to South American to Japanese and Chinese.  He borrowed from all of these but also invented freely. These smiling, slightly menacing heads are perhaps slightly reminiscent of Chinese lion-dogs or monster masks, but with elongated 'horns'. Here they have no precise ancestry.  Similar smiling animal faces appear in Dresser's designs of other creatures, including cats and toads or frogs.<br><br><b>Time</b><br>The vase was designed between 1892 and 1896, most probably in 1893. This is relatively late in Dresser's career and by this time there was a well-established market for exotic art wares.  Nevertheless, Dresser was highly commercial and was extremely shrewd about interpreting his more adventurous designs into a form suitable for art-conscious yet polite middle-class drawing rooms.","physicalDescription":"Vase of buff earthenware with a circular, squat body on a pedestal, four grotesque handles, a long cylindrical neck and a flared mouth. The yellow glaze is worn through in places.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Dresser, Christopher","id":"A8351"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"William Ault Pottery","id":"A9253"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Earthenware","id":"x29356"},{"text":"glaze","id":"AAT15091"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Buff coloured earthenware, with a yellow glaze","categories":[{"text":"ELISE","id":"THES48961"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Vases","id":"THES48879"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AH7629","2006AP5592"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SHLN","id":"THES49063"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Vase","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Burton upon Trent","id":"x30187"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1892-1896","earliest":"1892-01-01","latest":"1896-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"22.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"17.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: measured; 21/12/1998 by sf","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'254': possibly the mould number","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Ault Pottery","id":"A1413"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"ca. 1892 -1896","earliest":"1887-01-01","latest":"1896-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"impressing","position":"base","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"base; impressing; Ault Pottery; ca. 1892 -1896"},{"content":"'Chr Dresser': designer's mark","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Ault Pottery","id":"A1413"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"ca. 1892 - 1896","earliest":"1887-01-01","latest":"1896-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"impressing","position":"base","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"base; impressing; Ault Pottery; ca. 1892 - 1896"}],"objectHistory":"Designed by Christopher Dresser (born in Glasgow, 1834, died in Mulhouse, France, 1904) and probably made at the Ault Pottery, Swadlincote, near Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire\n\nHistorical significance: Dresser was inspired by a wide range of historic and foreign prototypes, including Gothic, Japanese, Chinese, Peruvian and Egyptian. Dresser drew from all these sources to produce something quite original. This vase reveals many sources, including oriental bronzes, Awaji pottery and mediaeval grotesques. Dresser was also interested in geometry and applied a scientific interest in colour and proportions in his designs. Here the decoration is very simple but the play between the square and the circle provides extra interest in the form.","historicalContext":"Unlike Morris, Dresser was fully reconciled to designing for industrial production - indeed his name or signature is often found next to the manufacturer's mark. He designed furniture, textiles, wallpaper, linoleum, metalwork, glass and ceramics for industry. His designs for ceramics for the Linthorpe and Ault potteries encouraged a broader general interest in contemporary Art Pottery as collectible objects.\r\n\r\n'The Studio' in 1899 praised Dresser for raising 'the national levels of design, not by producing costly bric-a-brac for millionaires, but by dealing with products within the reach of the middle classes if not the masses themselves'","briefDescription":"Yellow glazed earthenware vase. English, ca. 1892-96. Designed by Christopher Dresser and made by the Ault Pottery.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"See Object Information file in Ceramics and Glass Section office."},{"reference":{"text":"Miyajima, Hisao (ed.), <i>British design at home : the Victoria & Albert Museum [英国のモダン・デザイン : インテリアにみる伝統と革新 : ヴィクトリア & アルバート美術館展 : Eikoku no modan dezain : interia ni miru dentō to kakushin : Vikutoria & Arubāto Bijutsukan ten]</i>, Ōsaka : NHK Kinki Media Puran, 1994","id":"AUTH355301"},"details":"32","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nDresser was inspired by a wide range of historic and foreign prototypes. He studied examples in London museums and international exhibitions.  The form and decoration of this vase are based on Chinese and ancient Peruvian pottery. Dresser has made the design his own by adding the yellow glaze and varying the details.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}},{"text":"Vase\nDesigned by Christopher Dresser, made by William Ault & Co., Ault Pottery, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, England, \n\n\nC.26-1971","date":{"text":"23/05/2008","earliest":"2008-05-23","latest":"2008-05-23"}}],"partNumbers":["C.26-1971"],"accessionNumberNum":"26","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1971,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP8121","2019LP7346","2019LV5372","2022NH3368"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-09","recordCreationDate":"1998-06-22","availableToBook":false}}