This is a harder-to-find early vintage tall storage canister - featuring the double confronted dolphins pattern. It was designed in 1960 for Portmeirion by Susan Williams-Ellis.
Blank pots were initially used from earlier Grays or Kirkham Pottery stock and coloured - and the transfer designs applied. Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband bought Kirkham Pottery in 1961. It was not until 1963 that Portmeirion launched its first fully designed products.
Susan Williams-Ellis trained at Chelsea Art School where she was taught by Graham Sutherland and Henry Moore. She founded Portmeirion Potteries as a home for her own designs created for the gift shop at her father’s village, Portmeirion, in North Wales.
This pattern was first designed in 1958. Dolphin was the second line to be produced for the Portmeirion Gift Shop by Gray’s Pottery. The design features an architectural frame with a Dolphin on either side as heraldic supporters. It was engraved from Williams-Ellis’ original drawing.
This is a rarer early white large size storage canister with the attractive confronted dolphin pattern on it - as annotated on the base. It is also dated on the base 11/63. The cork stopper is nice and clean and is original to the pot. These pots were never designed with lids - but with the stopper.
The jar is in good vintage condition - and looks fabulous on display. Any white flashes on the body of the pot are not marks on the item - but are reflections as the glaze is quite shiny
Dimensions: the height is 9 1/2 (including cork) and 8 1/4 in height without the cork. inches and the diameter is 4 3/4 inches.
UK postage with Royal Mail Recorded will be £5.50