Cinque Ports (The Monastery) Rye Large Flower Vase with Leaf Design

Pottery has been produced in and around Rye in Sussex since the late 18th century. From the mid-19th century until its closure at the outbreak of World War II, The Bellevue Pottery was the dominant force. In 1947, this factory was reopened as the ‘Rye Pottery’ by the brothers John and Walter Cole, who trained many apprentices. David Sharp joined the company in 1947 and left in 1956 to form ‘Cinque Ports Pottery’ with George Gray. In 1964, the partnership ended and Gray ran the pottery, which manufactured commercial domestic ware in large quantities. Gray set up new premises at The Monastery and incorporated this in his back stamp. The pottery continued production until the 1980s, when it was taken over by Jim Elliot of Iden Pottery. This is a stunning, high quality handmade vase by Cinque Ports Pottery. The vase has a classic urn shaped body, with a narrow neck and everted rim. It is decorated on the exterior with a pale matte green shade, over which has been painted two fine circumferential bands of dark green. In the space between these bands there is a panel of hand-painted stylised leaves, the details of which have been incised (Sgraffito). There is a broad band of dark green above the base. The interior is decorated with glossy black glaze. The underside is marked in blue with the words ‘CINQUE PORTS POTTERY LTD. THE MONASTERY RYE’. It has a height of approximately 24.9cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 9.7cm and across the base of about 8.5cm. It is in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks.