Ornamental agate creamware vase
James Neale British
Manufactory Neale & Co.
This vase is probably from the 1778-80 transitional period of the Neale factory when the London businessman James Neale took over his brother-in-law Humphrey Palmer’s factory in Hanley, Staffordshire. At one point the rival of Wedgwood in the production of black basalt ornamental vases, certain features are trademark decorations of Neale wares, such as simulated handles in the form of female heads and a central medallion suspended from an illusionistic loop. Although wares made under the ownership of Neale demonstrate a more restrained use of ornament and form than Palmer, vestiges of the factory’s earlier experiments are evident in unusual forms, such as the high relief female heads turned slightly to the side. Such elements add an exaggerated Baroque sense of movement to a form otherwise inspired by the rediscovery of classical antiquity.
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