Bretby art pottery, vaso clanta ware, UK 1895 ca

Bretby Art Pottery was an

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

studio founded in 1882 by Henry Tooth and

William Ault William Ault (1842 – 12 March 1929) was an English potter, involved with a number of companies in the Staffordshire potteries and South Derbyshire making art pottery and more utilitarian wares. In 1883 he established the Bretby Art Pottery ( ...

Woodville, Derbyshire Woodville is a suburban village and civil parish that crosses two districts - South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, east of Swadlincote, of which it is now effectively a subu ...

, where production began on 25 October 1883. Tooth went into partnership with Ault following his successful leadership of the celebrated Linthorpe Pottery in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

where he had been recommended as general manager by the designer Dr Christopher Dresser in 1879. Henry Tooth continued his creative relationship with Dr Dresser and within a year his partnership with Ault had won a gold medal at the 1884 London International and Universal Exhibition, which was held at the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. They also registered their 'Sunburst' logo as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

. The partnership between Ault and Tooth was dissolved on 1 January 1887 when William Ault set up his own pottery Ault & Co. in Midland Road,

Swadlincote Swadlincote is a former mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, England, lying within The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire, south-east of Burton upon Trent and north-west of Ashby-de ...

. Following which Bretby continued to be produced by Tooth and then his family under Tooth and Co until 1993, when the works were presumably sold, trading under the name Tooth and Company Limited until their closure in 1996. In 1921, the company was reported in the '' Burton Observer and Chronicle'' as specialising in "several unique kinds of pottery". These included "Ligna", which looked as if it were made of antique wood and bronze. The article says that the company is well-known for its

Cloisonné Cloisonné () is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, ...

work. In May 2016 the ownership of the showroom and offices, the factory itself having been demolished some years earlier, was passed to The Heritage Trust which is now trying to raise funds to restore and preserve the buildings.

Examples in public collections

Sharpe's Pottery Museum in

holds a substantial collection of early examples.

Derby Museum and Art Gallery Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collect ...

also holds a large collection.

References

{{Authority control Ceramics manufacturers of England Organisations based in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire British companies established in 1883 Art pottery Manufacturing companies established in 1883 1883 establishments in England