Denby ‘Danesby Ware’ Range ‘Herbaceous Border’ Design Large Flower Vase c.1930s

This is a classically beautiful example of a stoneware flower vase from the ‘Herbaceous Border’ range, designed by Donald Gilbert for Denby in the 1930s.

The large vase is trumpet-shaped and sits on a discoid base. This shape is commonly known as ‘Netherlea’, which has the product number ‘H.B.3’. The predominant colour is a mottled stone grey, with a hand-applied sponge-painted abstract design in the lower half of stylised flowers in yellow, green and blue. The decoration is by Albert Colledge.

The base is unglazed, revealing the underlying stoneware body. It is marked in black with the words ‘BOURNE DENBY ENGLAND’ and ‘DANESBY WARE’ in calligraphic script. In addition, it is impressed with the letter ‘O’, which would be a decorator’s initial.

It has a height of approximately 26.0cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 25.2cm and across the base of about 17.7cm.

It has an unwrapped weight of 2640g.

It is in good condition, with no chips, although there is a glaze ‘miss’ at the rim (see pictures). In addition, there is some crazing to the glaze on the interior and the top of the exterior of the vase. This is probably due to age, and also the thickness of the glaze. There is one fine line on the exterior (see pictures), which may be a crack in the glaze, as it does not obviously go through the body onto the interior. However, it may also be a small, faint crack. These flaws are commensurate with age and use but are reflected in the price.