Topic: Pearson's of Chesterfield

[Anne]

I've been trying to find out some info about this company, but all I've turned up are some sales of their stuff - mainly stoneware - and a few photos, but nothing about the company itself or when it was working from/to. Does anyone know of them at all please?   Reason for asking is that I have a much-loved moss green vase marked Pearson's of Chesterfield, and when I was mooching through the Keith Murray site David posted the link to I thought, hmmm similar finish, but then on one flckr page along with their vase photo someone had written that Pearson's seems to have based some of their pieces on KM's designs.  Any suggestions where to look next welcome.

Edited to add: I found this page subsequently, but it doesn't have much info at all:
http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=363

[Della]

Hi Anne,
This is all I can find, up to now:

Whittington Pottery, Chesterfield. Catherine Johnson (nee Pearson) owned the works from 1810. It became Pearson & Co. (Chesterfield) Ltd. in 1922, It was the last pottery in the Chesterfield area, finally closing in 1994

 

[Anne]

Thanks Della, that's more than I managed to find, so every little helps. How can there be so little about it

[Anne]

I finally managed to unearth the camera from under Barry's stuff tonight and took some pics... this is my Pearson's vase and backstamp.

[Lustrousstone]

Godden says this is the standard postwar mark

[Anne]

Thanks Christine, Godden sounds like a useful book to add to my wants list.

[ChimpMad]

Pearsons did produce mailnly stoneware, usually with a brown treacle glaze, but here's a nice example of their art pottery which I picked up a few years ago. It's an earlyish piece, probably just post-war.

[Anne]

Yours has the same backstamp as mine so they're probably of an age.   That's an unusual colour combo though, isn't it?  I have never seen any other Pearson pottery on sale round where I live, just my vase.

[ChimpMad]

It certainly is a striking piece, and it's the only piece of Pearsons that I've seen with this type of decoration. The pot was dipped in the brighter green glaze, and if you look closely you'll see the white body showing from beneath in several places. The olive glaze seems to have been applied using a wax-resist method, it stands quite proud of the surface. In effect it seems that Pearsons was doing fat lava long before the Germans!!
Sadly I no longer have this piece as I sold it to a serious collector of Pearsons, and he said that that he had never seen another remotely like it. Gladly, the profit I made on it was embarrasingly good, even if he did admit when he picked it up that he would have paid twice as much if neccessary.