| Colin Melbourne must rank
alongside Jessie Tait, John Clappison and Glynn Colledge as one of the
most brilliant ceramics designers working in post-war Britain. His CM
series is now greatly appreciated, but was too shockingly modern in its
time to be a commercial success. The pieces are all marked Beswick, but
not all carry the Colin Melbourne facsimile signature or CM monogram.
He modelled a series of animals for Midwinter around 1956. His later Petra
series for Royal Norfolk (camouflage patterns), and Memphis for Crown
Devon (with gold decoration), are also highly innovative. In 1954, he
formed a design consultancy with David Queensberry called Drumlanrig
Melbourne, and some plates from this era are seen, with abstract patterns
and a backstamp of 'Drumlanrig and Melbourne' in white script within a
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Colin Melbourne CM series for Beswick
The shapes were designed by Melbourne in 1956,
and decorated by James Hayward. All are earthenware.
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Small
cockerel, number 1416
Superb piece, with soft, streamline modelling
(typical also of Melbourne's animal pieces for Midwinter in the
1950s), which gives them 'melted' or 'sandblasted' contours. The
decoration on the breast is like an oscilloscope trace. Mint condition,
only a few scattered, inconspicuous crazing lines on a white area
on the back. (in production 1956-65. With the CM series monogram
on the underside (see detail, right). Value:
£200
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CM tripod bowl number 1396 (designed
1956)
Beautiful freeform object with turquoise
exterior, two peg feet and one hollow foot. The inside of
the bowl is decorated with slip trails. Some bowls in this
shape carry a Colin Melbourne facsimile signature (this one
doesn't). Pristine condition with no damage or crazing. In
production from 1957-63.Value: £20-40
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CM Series vase 1392
Designed in 1956 and issued in 1957-63, this vase is an encyclopaedia
of mid fifties design, and is one of the most bizarre creations of the
time. Similar in form, and in the half-and-half colourway, to the asymmetric
vases (1952) by Antonia Campi for the Societą Ceramica Italiana. It
has a freeform, asymmetric, organic shape, with dimples in the surface
as though it is melting, and a beaked lip. It is also half-painted in
elegant, fifties matt black, and half in pastel blue. To complete the
picture, the surface is decorated with abstract, leaf-like motifs. Mint
condition, with no damage or crazing, only a few fine scratches to one
patch of the black, and a couple of blobs in the black glaze from manufacture.
Value: £350
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CM series pig
Number 1473, produced 1957-66. With a grey body and red detailing,
including slipware white dots on a red band round the shoulders
(resembling the 1950s red
domino pattern of midwinter). White painted eyes and squirly
tail. Mint condition and rare. With faint gold Beswick stamp but
no CM mark. Value:
£400-500
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CM
Vase 1399
With beaked lip and orange-brown abstract decoration on chocolate
brown matt body. Mint condition. Value:
£40-60
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CM freeform vase 1398
Designed by Melbourne in 1956, and in production
from 1957-63. Seen in various patterns, this one rather cucumber-like.
With Colin Melbourne facsimile signature. Mint condition.
Value: £75
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Colin Melbourne for Royal Norfolk
Norfolk Pottery Co. Ltd., Norfolk St., Shelton,
Stoke-on-Trent. Makers of earthenware. Trade name: Royal Norfolk.
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Petra vase
With camouflage pattern and heavily embossed, caramel coloured
collar. Mint except for minute burst glaze bubble in manufacture
on lip. Some limescale to interior. Earthenware. Value:
£50-70
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Colin Melbourne for Bossons (c. 1959)
W. H. Bossons Ltd., Brook Mills, Congleton,
Cheshire. Makers of earthenware and "vitreplas"
Spelling: the family and Company name
was "Bossons" not "Bosson" or "Bosson's"
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Bullfight
plaque
To use a real eBay cliché, this is Stunning! W.H. Bossons
Ltd made wall plaques and figurines, mostly in chalkware; this
piece however is earthenware. The body is white but has an all-over
black glaze and red handpainted details.
The quality of this design, issued in
1959 only, is just breathtaking, and you can see that it would
have been way ahead of British taste. There was also a Spanish
dancer, Liberian dancer and Indian dancer in this series. They
have very thin arms and legs and it is a miracle when they survive
undamaged, as is fortunately the case with this piece. Backstamp
reads Bossons England "Bullfight" 6. For more information,
see the comprehensive Bossons
site. Value:
£75
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