The four Martin Brothers were

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

manufacturers in London from 1873 to 1914. In their own day their Martinware was described as

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 ...

, and they were one of the earliest potteries making this, but in modern terms they fit better into the

studio pottery Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...

category, which was invented later. The four brothers (Wallace, Walter, Charles and Edwin) produced a distinctive type of

stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...

pottery from the 1870s through to 1914, when their pottery closed, with a little work being produced through to 1923, when the last brother, Robert Wallace Martin, died. Their output included both vessels and figures. They were best known for their bird sculptures and bowls, vessels decorated with sea creatures, and tiles, fashioned in a whimsical but highly skillful style. The " Wally Birds" vary, and do not represent any actual species, but generally have a large and rather fierce-looking beak, massive feet and talons, and a quizzical look in their large eyes, which have a rather human shape. Their heads lift off to reveal a cavity in the body, generally intended to store pipe tobacco. Martinware, especially the sculptural pieces, is very popular with collectors, and as of 2015 the record auction price was US$196,000 for a bird jar.

History, wares and technique

The Pottery was started in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, London in 1873 by Robert Wallace Martin (1843–1923), who had trained as a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. In 1877 the business was moved to Havelock Road, in the London suburb of

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, where it remained and several of the brothers were ultimately buried in the cemetery along the road. Walter Fraser Martin (1857-1912) supplied the technical expertise, specializing in coloured glazes and became the firm's specialist on the wheel; Edwin Bruce Martin (1860-1915) was the thrower and decorator whose work included most of the fish and flower designs; and Charles Douglas Martin (1846 - 1910) managed the shop. This was at 16 Brownlow St,

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and Sou ...

, and opened in 1878, but closed after a fire there in 1903. They worked mainly with a

saltglaze Salt-glaze or salt glaze pottery is pottery, usually stoneware, with a glaze of glossy, translucent and slightly orange-peel-like texture which was formed by throwing common salt into the kiln during the higher temperature part of the firing pr ...

stoneware, fired at a high-temperature with salt thrown into the kiln during firing to create the

ceramic glaze Ceramic glaze is an impervious layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fused to a pottery body through firing. Glaze can serve to color, decorate or waterproof an item. Glazing renders earthenware vessels suitable for holding ...

, which fused with the clay and gave a surface which could be glassy or matt depending on the conditions of each firing. Whereas many stoneware glazes are coloured and obscure the body underneath, the saltglaze method served to highlight the impressed and incised decoration on the surface of their pots. The colours included browns, greens, greys and blues, and this subdued palette is distinctive of Martinware. Their most flamboyant design period was from about 1880–1900, and after 1900 their designs simplified somewhat, under the influence of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

. Robert Wallace Martin, the oldest brother, had worked for a while for the architectural sculptor J. B. Phillips of Vauxhall Bridge Road, and later took drawing classes at the nearby Lambeth School of Art. Walter and Edwin Martin also studied there, and both worked for a time at the

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 ...

Pottery, also in Lambeth. The

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Over ...

Ayot St Peter Ayot St Peter is a village and civil parish in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England, about two miles north-west of Welwyn Garden City. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 166. At the 2011 Census the population ...

’s Church in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, is the only commission by the Martin Brothers for a church.

Collections and exhibitions

Martinware pottery may be found in various ceramic museum collections. Up until its closure in 2015, Pitshanger Manor displayed a wide range of their work in the Manor's Hull Grundy Collection, based in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

. The remaining Martinware collection is now on display at the

Library in the Dominion Centre. A small selection is on show in the

Norwich Castle Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...

museum. The

Potteries Museum & Art Gallery The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free. One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museum ...

exhibits examples of Martinware in its Art Pottery cases. An exhibition, "The Martin Brothers Potters", at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

Belgravia in 1978 did much to revive interest. There were Martinware exhibitions at the Cuming Museum, London in 2013 and Standen (National Trust) in 2016.

Collectors

Martinware has been popular with collectors, especially since the 1970s. A new record auction price of US$196,000 was set in 2015 (Phillips, New York) for a 14 inch high "wally bird" jar from 1889, supposedly one of a few caricaturing

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

. The previous record was £75,000 for another bird jar of 1898 (Woolley & Wallis, 2014). More typical prices for bird jars and good size vases were in the £10-20,000 range in 2018."Fresh partnership kicks off with York sale of Soame Jenyns' Oriental group"
by Terence Ryle, 29 Oct 2018, ''Antiques Trade Gazette'' File:Vase with birds and portrait MET DP704002.jpg, Vase with birds and portrait, 1876, c. 23 in, 54 cm tall File:Plaque depicting a pottery workshop MET DP-2876-003.jpg, Somewhat untypical

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

plaque (wood frame) depicting a pottery workshop, c. 1882 File:Bird MET DP331292 (cropped).jpg, Wally bird jar, 1888, 12 3/16 in., 31 cm high, on base. File:Jar with four birds MET DP704397 (cropped).jpg, Jar with four birds, 1892, 8 5/16 in., 21.1 cm tall File:Pot with dragons MET DP332481 (cropped).jpg, Pot with dragons, 1894 File:Pot with dragons MET DP332875.jpg, Pot with dragons, 1894, inscribed base File:Small vase with birds MET DP-1725-013 (cropped).jpg, Small vase with birds, 1905, c. 3 in, 8 cm tall

References

*"Grove": "Martin", in ''The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts''
google books

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin Brothers English potters Sibling quartets Art pottery English pottery Studio pottery Stoneware