hand painted birds in flight, standard glaze, shape 565, artist signed L. Knaus, 11 1/2"...............One of the pioneers of Ohio art pottery was Samuel Augustus Weller, who created the seventy-year enterprise of Weller Pottery. He started his own business in 1872 in Fultonham, Ohio making utilitarian ware such as stoneware jars and clay flowerpots. But in 1882 Weller moved his small company to Zanesville, Ohio and by 1888, he had employed 68 potters to make art pottery at what historians call “the first edition” of the Putnam factory. As the factory grew in size and employees (175 active potters by 1894), Samuel Weller joined forces with other artisans such as William A. Long, Jaques Sicard, and Frederick Hurten Rhead...Despite a devastating fire in 1895, Weller pushed production every year, rebuilt the Putnam factory, and built a second pottery for manufacturing utility ware only. By 1915 Samuel Weller had established Weller Pottery as the world’s largest art pottery company with pieces that reflected the movements of the time; Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Modernism.The prolific and wide-ranging business of Weller Pottery is difficult to summarize. While Weller employed international artists to invent new glazes and designs in secrecy, he mass produced other lines that competed well with companies like Roseville, Rookwood, Owens, and other Ohio area potteries. In 1904, Weller set up a massive model pottery at the St. Louis Exposition, complete with his best potters at the kiln and a 7 ½ foot Aurelian vase for display. Weller Pottery took the Gold Medal in the Arts Category that year. By 1915, Samuel Weller had established Weller Pottery as the world’s largest art pottery company that reflected the Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco movements of the time.The 1920s was a harried time for Weller Pottery, which transitioned from a sole proprietorship (i.e., Samuel Weller) to a corporation. A third factory was added to the company in 1924, where artist John Lessel created several new pottery lines, before Samuel Weller passed away in 1925. Weller’s nephew Harry Weller became the president of the company, which underwent another blow from a destructive fire in its new, third factory in 1927.Weller Pottery turned more and more to commercial production and tile making and more utility items like beer mugs (only available after the repeal of the Prohibition). In the mid-1930s, the first and second factories closed as well, and under the management of several different presidents of the company, cooking utensils and inexpensive ornamental ware was made in the third pottery. Unfortunately, Weller Pottery closed completely in 1948.