Vase lucky number 13

Some shapes saw interesting evolutions and adaptations in design over Titian's life time. One such was the large  V113 (Vase number 13), one of which can be found in the previous post in its guise of a lamp base. However, it can also be found as a normal vase, and even more uncommonly, as a lamp base with all the whistles and bells including a beefed up square base and monumental handles. Below in a line-up of the three forms, all derived from the same basic shape. The smallest is 31 cm tall, and the largest, a mighty 50 cm to the top of the light fitting.

The middle lamp base is done in the stonehenge glaze, with the very well executed profile of the fourteenth century BC Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.

Titian's Woodgrain Glaze: Oak & Mahogany

One of the most successful of Titian's art glazes has to have been the wood grain glaze. More specifically, the Mahogany glaze, because they also tried to emulate an Oak wood grain too.
As Gail Henry (page 64) writes: Woodgrain [was] inspired by Teddy Rennie (a mould-maker and decorator employed by Titian) whose father was a decorator of coaches and stately homes in Britain. 
On page 157 Henry continues, Teddy Rennie was an English employee whose background was in commercial art... Teddy specialised in airbrushing and unusual finishes and also in printing.

This glaze gives such a close appearance of highly polished mahogany that it is hard to believe it is a hand-finished ceramic glaze effect. They look like the type of thing you would find in a very palatial house.

Titian Mahogany Glaze sample

 The large urn at the back of the top photo is numbered B109 (Bowl number 9) and is 17 cm tall by 22 cm from handle to handle. It was one of the biggest bowl forms Titian produced.

The urn is unusually well marked. First it has Titian Studio B109 impressed into the mould. It also has a "b" inscribed into the base and it has "A1" painted on under the glaze. I surmise that the "b" represents the name of the glazer of this work, and "A1", means that as far has he was concerned, this was going to be a superior quality piece. And so it is.

The large lamp base is a variation on the vase that was numbered V113, and is 40 cm tall, from base to light fitting.

The Oak glaze is slightly less common than the Mahogany although I do prefer Mahogany.

Titian's Oak glaze sample

It is lighter in colour and as can be seen in the below example, was glazed in a way that suggests the krater form was made of 2 pieces of turned wood that were then joined together.

This vase is numbered B 107-2 (Bowl number 7 size 3). The "2" is, counter-intuitively, actually telling us that this is size three (the largest) of a form that comes in three sizes.

 B107-2 is 22 cm tall; B107-1 is 18 cm tall; B107-0 is 14 cm tall. The middle vase is in the grey marble finish which will be the subject of a later post.

Experimental innovation: Use of glass enamels on Ceramics

One of the most simple yet elegant Titian glazes was the cobalt blue. This was often finished with gilt highlights. Less often, a very interesting transfer was applied, resulting in a fine two toned cameo-relief effect.

This transfer was in fact originally designed for used on glassware, so its application to ceramics was somewhat innovative for Titian.

The above vase is 27 cm tall and is numbered V 118 (Vase number 18).

Titian's Wedgewood experiment

As far as I know, Cameron Brown only ever once tried to emulate the famous powdered eggshell blue Wedgewood body. Gail Henry (page 169) describes this product:

Fluted shape in Wedgwood blue vitreous body, not glazed, about 10" tall, made at the request of Ken Lord, approximately 200 made. Body produced by Cameron Brown Sr by trial and error using an old recipe book bought by his grandfather for one pound from William Bourne, a Burslem potter noted as being the first to produce bone china.

The interesting thing about this vase is that it is not numbered KV*** as you would expect for a vase designed and made for Ken Lord. It is actually numbered SV 201 (Sargoods Vase number 1). Does this mean that Gail Henry's information about this vase was incorrect? Maybe Cam Brown just mis-remembered who he made it for?

Fantails: An iconic Titian motif

Over the years, Titian Studio produced a number of products with flora and fauna motifs. One of the most popular of these motifs appears to have been the humble fantail which appears on a number of different forms, some of which are harder to find than others.

The two small scraffito-decorated dishes in the centre were mainstays of Titian's souvenir range. The ashtray on the left was numbered S 100 (Souvenir number 0), and the pin dish on the right was numbered S101 (Souvenir number 1). There are two interesting points to remember about these small dishes. First, both forms went though two generations of mould, and secondly, the Bluff Oyster Shell form was given two other numbers depending on its decoration, without any alteration of the mould. This may have been for excise tax reasons. If you find a shell pin dish decorated with painted colourful native flowers like kaka beak or kowhai, these were given the number S106. If you find one decorated with a colourful painted native bird (including a fantail, a kiwi and a wood pigeon), these have the administrative number S107.

The fantail wall vase is a gorgeous piece of kiwiana design, and is one of the earliest of Titian wall vases (1950s). It was made before the numbering system was introduced.

 Interestingly, these fantails are only found in an early mould form with three raised dots on the reverse. Other wall vases, such as the famous Titian "Swoose", are found in both early three-pointed forms and a later second generation mould form, where the whole rim of the reverse is raised.

Reverse showing first gen wall vase mould with raised dots

Perhaps the rarest fantail themed pot put out by Titian was a modelled pond looked over by an applied fantail. This was conceived as an ashtray and is numbered A 11 (Ashtray number 1). As many Titian collectors will rightly point out, Titian numbers were almost always letters followed by three digits, and this leads some to question whether this one really is Titian. However, if you have a small Swordfish ashtray you will see that that was numbered A 12, putting the fantail ashtray in this range. It is however, much harder to find than the small swordfish.

The words "New Zealand" were inscribed in the mould and can be seen around the front rim of the dish.

  These are quite kitsch, but do evoke a folk arty, post war New Zealand like nothing else.

Lustre Glaze - 1960s Modern

The second glaze I want to highlight is the near psychedelic Lustre Glaze produced mainly for the Presley Ware range in the 1960s. Some vases also received a Paramount sticker. According to Gail Henry's book, this glaze was introduced by one of Titian's skilled crafts-people - Mary Baillie. Mary Baillie had learned these techniques at, of all places, Royal Doulton in the UK.

Photo

The glaze came in three main colours - Cerise Red Lustre, Blue Lustre and a wondrous Avocado Green Lustre

Deep Cerise Red Lustre Glaze sample:

Blue Lustre Glaze Sample:

This glaze is hard to photograph. It looks grey here but is a
much more vivid blue in the flesh

Green Lustre Glaze sample:

The vitrification properties of this glaze seem to give it a tendency to
 have yellow/gold highlights which makes it  exceptionally attractive

This glaze range lends itself to being collected in threes of the same shape, giving a pleasing interior design effect in certain contexts.

The above shape is numbered T 103 (Titian article number 3).
The largest vase in the range displayed above is the Large Urn with fluted sides numbered ***.

As can be seen, the size of the oil-on-water like effect of this glaze can vary considerably. Some prefer a finer texture to the glaze (as above) and some a bigger globual coverage as in the following example.

Numbered V 117 (Vase number 17).
Or:

A very elegant and it seems popular shape at the time, numbered PV. 113 (Paramount Vase number 13)
My personal favourite of the glazes it the avocado green, which is just beautiful.