Monumental 1920 Ruskin Pottery Sang de Boeuf Ginger Jar. Hallmark and date on bottom. Measures 14" high with a circumference of 33 1/2" and weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces. The largest piece of Ruskin Pottery we have seen. Two small heat fissures/lines at top, very hard to see with lid on. Magnificent presentation and color, a perfect example of English Arts & Crafts era pottery. Provenance: Mt. Pleasant SC Estate.The flambé glaze, including the stunning red sang de boeuf glaze, is considered to be the best glaze that the factory produced. There was a great deal of secrecy surrounding production of the flambé pieces, which were fired many times at very high temperatures. The flambé pieces were fired in the famous "red kiln". Only a few trusted employees were allowed to supervise the firings and visitors were never allowed to see the kiln. Ruskin was an English pottery studio founded in 1898 by Edward R. Taylor, the first Principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art, to be run by his son, William Howson Taylor, formerly a student there. It was named after the artist, writer and social thinker John Ruskin, as the Taylors agreed with, and followed the tenets of Ruskin. The pottery was situated at 173-174 Oldbury Road Smethwick, Sandwell, West Midlands. The pottery produced was notable for the innovative glazes used on a range of brightly coloured pots, vases, buttons, bowls, tea services and jewellery. The glazes devised by William Howson Taylor included misty soufflé glazes, ice crystal effect glazes - 'crystalline', lustre glazes resembling metallic finishes, and the most highly regarded of all, “sang de boeuf” and Flambe glazes which produced a blood red effect. The 'sang de boeuf' glazes were created using reduction of copper and iron oxides at high temperature. This was a difficult technique, first developed in China in the 13th century and reinvented by several art potters in Europe in the late 19th century. William Howson Taylor was one of the principal exponents of 'high fired' techniques, producing a range of colours and unique 'fissured' glaze effects.Having exhibited at home and at international fine art exhibitions, the award of a "grand prize" in 1904 at the St Louis International Exhibition, gave them the recognition they needed. Further awards were gained at other international exhibitions, including Milan 1906; Christchurch, New Zealand, 1907; London 1908; Brussels 1910; Turin 1911; Ghent 1913. When the studio closed in 1935 the formula for the glazes and all the pottery documentation were deliberately destroyed, so that the unique Ruskin products could never be replicated. Ref: The Pottery of Edward Richard Taylor and William Howson Taylor, 1898-1935 by Paul Atterbury and John Henson, Baxendale Press, 1993.

See description 14 1/2x34 circ. Wt 7 Pds 12 oz