Pinch bottle

This bottle demonstrates the strong influence of Japanese ceramics on Christopher Dresser (1834–1904), a prolific designer who played a key role in promoting the industrial arts in Victorian England. In 1876, Dresser became the first designer to be invited by the Japanese government to study the arts of Japan as a delegate of the newly opened South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum). His keen interest in the unconventional forms and experimental glazes of Meiji period ceramics such as Awaji pottery merged with domestic traditions in English salt-glazed wares in the designs he produced for Linthorpe Art pottery (1878–1889). William Ault purchased and used the Linthorpe factory’s molds based on Dresser’s shapes when he established his pottery in 1887, and formally hired Dresser as a designer in 1894. This bottle was first designed by Dresser during the Linthrope period, and was later produced by Ault pottery around 1892.