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Marblehead Pottery landscape vase

Early Marblehead Pottery landscape vase sells for $250K

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Marblehead Pottery landscape vase
Marblehead Pottery 1909 landscape vase marked with an ‘M’ and partial ‘P’ flanking a sailing ship and the letters ‘A’ and ‘T’ beneath the Marblehead mark, 8½ inches high. Sold for $250,000. Skinner image

BOSTON – A rare Marblehead Pottery vase, originally estimated at $10,000-20,000, sold for $250,000 at Skinner Auctioneers’ 20th Century Design Auction on Dec. 14.

The vase was designed by Annie E. Aldrich, thrown by John Swallow, and decorated by Sarah Tutt in the Marblehead Pottery workshop in 1909. It is one of four known examples, two of the others are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Two Red Roses Foundation in Palm Harbor, Florida.

This landscape vase is decorated in the style of Arthur Wesley Dow, depicting haystacks in a marsh. A fine example of the work produced at the Marblehead Pottery, as characterized by its simplicity of form and decoration, as well as its distinctive matte glazes.

Dr. Herbert Hall started the Marblehead Pottery in 1904, as therapy for patients at his Devereux Sanitarium. His therapeutic workshop evolved into a business, and in 1915, Arthur Baggs took over the production operation and continued to produce the pottery until 1936.

Marblehead Pottery landscape vase