C20Ceramics

Dec 18

Ilja Chapoff – Further Information

Thank you to Emma for sending a photo of piece by Ilja Chapoff (previous posts). This piece has a similar style of pattern and brush technique to the first piece by this Artist which I came across – and appears to have been from the same exhibition/gallery going by the labelling on the base.

As a fascinating side note I have come across an photo of a large mural painted by Ilja before he came to Australia as a WW2 refugee from Czechoslovakia.

I cant post the image here as it is a “stock image” – but HERE is the link to it.

The mural is in the Dormition Church at the Olsany Cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic, and the caption says this is one of several murals painted 1941-1945 by a group of Russian Icon Painters after a design by Ivan Bilibin. I knew that Ilja worked as an Artist in Prague before migrating to Australia, but until now didn’t know in what capacity or field…so it is fascinating to be building up a background story every so slowly of this talented artist and craftsman.

(There is also a fascinating brief history of the Olsany Cemetery on Wikipedia here )

Ilja Chapoff

Nov 25

Ridgway Romany

I’ve never come across a dinnerware set quite like this one before – consisting of 2 very different styles and production techniques.

The maker is RIDGWAY (Staffordshire). The cups and bowls are hand thrown from a terracotta clay and glazed in a dark olive green matt glaze – A great shape too – they are wide at the bottom and narrower at the top.

They’re really quite chunky – and you would think they were handmade by a studio potter – except for the stamp on the bottom.

In almost complete contrast is the bone china plate-ware designed for this setting. It is bone china, with hand-painted greens and blues – but when its all together – the design simply works, with the green hues of the plate ware tying it all together. I think it is a fascinating experiment in tying together traditional plate ware design, with the developing “hand made” movement of the late 1960s.

The pattern is “ROMANY”. (not to be confused with Denby Romany and many other makers who used this name during the 1960’s)

The backstamp is from the 1960’s. Ridgway were quite a large group of Staffordshire Potteries produced many brands including – Colclough, Paladin, Portland, Adderley and Gainsborough potteries.

Of course Ridgway were also the producers of the now iconic “Homemaker” by Enid Seeney