Dish thumbnail 1

Dish

ca. 1957 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This dish was made by Michael Cardew at the Abuja Pottery in Nigeria. Cardew had been employed by the colonial government in order to explore ways of improving the quality of locally produced pottery. However, Cardew himself believed that the traditional pottery had achieved a refined state of beauty, was well-suited to local needs, and could not be improved on. Instead, he proposed the foundation of a centre where potters could be trained to produce glazed wares to supply the demands of the new middle class, and helped to establish small local potteries for this purpose. In practice, this scheme was not entirely successful, and over time the emphasis shifted to the production of high-quality wares for the local and developing overseas market, made at Abuja by a core group of the most successful trainees. This jar was bought from an exhibition of Abuja pottery held at the Berkeley Galleries in London in 1958.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, with 'finger-wiped' decoration in a milky glaze over black slip
Brief description
Dish by Michael Cardew; stoneware; British; 1957.
Dimensions
  • Depth: 39.80cm
  • Height: 5.50cm
Marks and inscriptions
'ABUJA' seal, impressed
Object history
Acquisition details: see Circ.112-1958
Production
Pottery: Abuja Pottery, Nigeria
Summary
This dish was made by Michael Cardew at the Abuja Pottery in Nigeria. Cardew had been employed by the colonial government in order to explore ways of improving the quality of locally produced pottery. However, Cardew himself believed that the traditional pottery had achieved a refined state of beauty, was well-suited to local needs, and could not be improved on. Instead, he proposed the foundation of a centre where potters could be trained to produce glazed wares to supply the demands of the new middle class, and helped to establish small local potteries for this purpose. In practice, this scheme was not entirely successful, and over time the emphasis shifted to the production of high-quality wares for the local and developing overseas market, made at Abuja by a core group of the most successful trainees. This jar was bought from an exhibition of Abuja pottery held at the Berkeley Galleries in London in 1958.
Bibliographic reference
Watson, Oliver. British Studio Pottery : the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, Oxford : Phaidon, Christie's, in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.113-1958

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJanuary 14, 2000
Record URL
Download as: JSON