Charles John Noke (1858
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
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* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
- 27 May 1941), was an English pottery designer and artist who primarily worked for
Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
.
History
He is noted for producing many different ranges of pottery using differing techniques and was also hugely influential in helping Doulton establish itself as a world leader. After he joined Doulton in 1889 he became the Art Director and was able to affect all aspects of production at the Burslem site and in doing so instigated a revolution in both design and production turning Doulton into the leading art manufacturer of the age.
Noke's greatest achievement was the creation of a range of experimental transmutation glazed wares that are at best as good as anything produced at
Sèvres
Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for i ...
,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
or even in the Far East. These ranges, the Flambes, Titanian, Sung, Chinese Jade, Chang and Crystalline represent one of the greatest contributions to studio pottery made by a large British manufacturer in this century.
![Cobbler HN1706](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Cobbler_HN1706.JPG)
He is also well known for launching the HN figurines (named after Harry Nixon who was in charge of the figure painting department).
This naming convention for figurines still endures today.
Noke contributed significantly to the character studies and some of his designs, The Jester, The Potter and The Cobbler are among the most recognisable and enduring characters produced by Doulton.
He was also known for his designs of other colourful 'Eastern' characters.
Noke joined
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...
as an apprentice modeler in 1873, aged 16, whilst also attending the Worcester School of Design. Noke's work at Worcester caught the eye of Doulton's Art Director John Slater (whom Noke would later succeed) and after 16 years at Royal Worcester (1889) Noke joined
Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
as Chief Designer working from the Nile Street site in
Burslem
Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent.
T ...
.
Noke's early career at Doulton was spent modelling and decorating pieces to be displayed at exhibitions around the world, most notably the
Chicago World Fair in 1893. It was Noke's ambition to rival the other major pottery manufacturers of the day and Doulton mounted an extensive display of large, ornate and highly decorated vases and plates.
Noke is credited with reviving the fortunes of
Figurine
A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...
s in the
Potteries and in particular at Doulton where he was able to persuade
Henry Doulton
Sir Henry Doulton (25 July 1820 – 18 November 1897) was an English businessman, inventor and manufacturer of pottery, instrumental in developing the firm of Royal Doulton.
Life
Born in Vauxhall, Henry was the second of the eight children of Jo ...
that he could design figures that would sell.
In the early 1890s Noke began to experiment with figure models, the first of these being shown at the Chicago Fair.
From 1909 Noke and fellow designers started to work on the design and production of what was to become the HN Series of figurines. These were first launched in 1913 with Bedtime (HN1), this was later changed to Darling after a comment, "Isn't he a little Darling?", from
Queen Mary whose patronage helped to establish the series.
It was from these beginnings that the vast range of Doulton figures can be found today.
Noke is credited with some of Doultons most famous creations: Flambe Ware, Kings Ware, Series Ware and
Character Jugs.
Doulton's Flambe Ware is very striking with its fiery red colour and there were a variety of different pieces produced with this finish. Doulton's first flambe finished products were exhibited at the
St. Louis Exhibition in 1904.
The Kings Ware glaze effect developed by Noke had a rich brown finish to it. It was used to produce many advertising items and was made by Doulton from 1901 to 1939.
The concept of Series Ware was to decorate a range of different ceramic items, e.g. plates, vases etc. with the same theme/ pattern thus making them belong together as part of a series. Noke popularised this with his series of Dickens characters.
Character Jugs varied from the traditional
Toby Jugs in that they only featured the head and shoulders of a character. They were also more brightly coloured than the traditional Toby Jug. Doulton first introduced these character jugs in 1934 with Noke's own John Barleycorn.
Noke was Art Director at Doulton from 1914 until he retired from the position in 1936, aged 78. Noke continued to work at Doulton until his death in 1941.
See also
*
Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
*
Royal Doulton Bunnykins
*
List of Bunnykins figurines
This is a list of Royal Doulton Bunnykins figurines. Doulton & Co. (Royal Doulton) introduced the Bunnykins figurines in 1939 with six original Bunnykins figurines designed by Charles Noke based on illustrations by Sister Mary Barbara Bailey. ...
*
List of Royal Doulton figurines
This is a list of list of Royal Doulton figurines in ascending order by HN number. HN is named after Harry Nixon (1886–1955), head of the Royal Doulton painting department who joined Doulton in 1900. This list includes the HN number, the t ...
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noke, Charles John
1858 births
1941 deaths
English potters