MARTIN, Robert Wallace

The Martin brothers were intensely interested in surface decoration. They made almost any type of ware from clock cases to table wares to jardini�res. Their most celebrated wares are the sculptural bird-headed tobacco jars. For many years the Martins worked almost exclusively in salt-glazed stoneware which results in the distinctive semi-matt, speckled surface and a limited colour range of browns, blues and greens. They usually added incised decoration and applied ornament.

This chess piece, a white pawn from ‘Martin Ware’ chess set, was modelled by Robert Wallace Martin and made by R.W. Martin & Brothers, Southall, in 1902. It is a moulded man’s head and shoulders with incised chain-mail vest with black pigment on a pedestal base.

This white pawn is an example of the renewed nineteenth-century interest in stoneware, which took inspiration from the past, although it also demonstrates the ability of the Martin brothers to create original and characterful pieces.

This double-sided grotesque face jug was manufactured by Martin Brothers, London.

The output of the Martin Brothers pottery was always highly ornamented, even including its useful wares like this jug. The brothers were intensely interested in surface decoration and took their ideas from a very wide variety of sources. Robert Wallace Martin, the eldest brother, was fully familiar with historic motifs. This jug uses slightly sinister, chortling and grimacing faces - in this case in the form of the Sun and Moon. Wallace began making vases in this vigorously modelled form about 1885, inspired by Janus, the ancient Roman god with two faces.

The Martins worked exclusively in salt-glazed stoneware with a distinctive semi-matt, speckled surface and a limited colour range of browns, blues and greens. The technique and use of satyr-like masks have both English and German origins. This type of jug was clearly popular, as an unidentified German patron ordered 15 face jugs.

For many years the Martin brothers worked almost exclusively in salt-glazed stoneware which results in the distinctive semi-matt, speckled surface and a limited colour range of browns, blues and greens. They usually added incised decoration and applied ornament.

Determined that pottery vessels should be regarded as true works of art, avant-garde ceramicists in France in the last decades of the nineteenth century transformed their craft into an intellectual and emotional endeavour. The pioneers of this revival embraced artisanal traditions while pursuing lost techniques through exhaustive experimentation. Reacting to what they viewed as excessive and improper use of ornament, they celebrated the simplicity and sincerity of their medium, following the tenets of the Art Nouveau style taking place in Europe. Based on the principles of the British Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau artists sought to reform the decorative arts by emphasizing uniqueness and a return to craftsmanship.

Artist-potters found inspiration in Asian ceramics, particularly Japanese stoneware (a hard, dense type of pottery), which was shown in 1878 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, as well as in the forms, glazes, and techniques of Chinese porcelain and pottery. They also looked to European traditions such as the rustic salt-glazed stoneware of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and Gothic sculpture and architecture. In the process, they created works of ceramic art that were entirely modern and new.