Last night I wrote a little bit about Rookwood production pottery ware, and it's marks. Tonight I want to touch on the Artist ware. These pieces are the reason Rookwood is collected, well that and the fact that Rookwood pottery is consistent in their standards and are for the most part exceptional pieces of art. Rookwood was the first pottery to "second" their output if a flaw made a piece less saleable, but more on that a little later.

Tonight I will talk about the following piece of Artist signed Rookwood:





The above two photos show both sides of this rectangular porcelian vase in a style called Decorated Mat (sometimes called "Double Vellum").  The vase is painted on one side with Wisteria and the other Anemone blossoms and was painted by Kitaro Shirayamadani in 1944 (XLIV) if memory serves. The following photos show the marks found on the bottom of this piece.

The photo above top shows the Flame mark, the year (Roman Numerals), the shape number, and the size designation. These marks as I mentioned earlier appear on all Rookwood pieces made from 1886 on. Here the marks tell us the piece is from 1944, and is shape number 6292, in size C. This is the larger of the two known sizes of this vase; C is 7.5 inches tall, the other 6 inches tall is size D. Based on research this vase was designed by John D. Wareham. The photo above bottom is the artist cypher of Kitaro Shirayamadani as used on later pieces, his earlier cypher is in Katakana characters, which he stopped using after Pearl Harbor.
Kitaro Shirayamadani is considered one of the most sought after of the Rookwood artists, and is on the A-list of the firms artists.

Rookwood had many glaze lines, both of the two vases I have so far presented are mat glazes, the two color (oxblood red/green) on the Arts and Crafts production ware, and this multicolored, painted and glazed later ware. Other ware has names such as Iris (high gloss, white glaze), Sea Green (glossy, green tinited glaze), Aerial Blue (glossy, blue tinted), Vellum (a hazy, white glaze) and Standard (cobination of brown, yellow and green background glazes), as well as a few others. If you get interested in collecting Rookwood pottery you are sure to find a glaze line that appeals to you, perhaps they all will, as this ware is exceptional.

Rookwood is exceptional due to the standards of production that were adhered to during it many years of production (1880 to about 1960). Pieces that were deemed less saleable were "seconded" by the addition of  a scratched in 'X' on the bottom of the piece, and it's sale price was reduced. Pieces are found where the 'X' has a third line through it, resembling a large asterisk '*', these were seconds that did not sell and were marked to be given away.

Rookwood pottery has many other forms and marks, which are too varied to discuss in a limited venue such as this blog, and I have only scratched the surface of this ware. If you wish to do more research on this pottery there are several fine books on the subject, only three of which, specific to Rookwood,  I will mention below as a starter. The first two are older books that are out of print, but can still be found, and many collectors feel these form a solid base for a reference library on Rookwood, the other is a more current book with many color photographs.

(1) The Book of Rookwood Pottery; Herbert Peck; Bonanza Books, New York. 1968, no ISBN available
(2) The Second Book of Rookwood Pottery; Herbert Peck; publisher unknown, 1985, no ISBN
(3) Warman's Rookwood Pottery; Denis Rago & Jonathan Clancy, Krause Publications, 2008
      ISBN 13: 978-0-89689-633-1 or ISBN 10: 0-89689-633-1

Till tomorrow, Good Night!