This is a highly collectable and rare piece of antique Scottish pottery.
It is a stunning large bulbous bottle vase with a tall tubular neck. The main body colour is a roughly painted smoky grey colour - and with a dark green background where all the decorative fruits are on the pot.
The bottle pot - was probably supplied as a blank piece from Maling's in Newcastle - and then decorated in this instance by Mak Merry.
It is 12 1/2 inches in height with a diameter at the widest point of 6 inches.
It dates to the 1920s.
I have sold a very similar bottle vase in my shop - with the exact same shape - which had been signed Makmerry and dated 1924 on the base. So this helps me attribute this lovely piece of Scottish pottery to the Makmerry pottery. This one is inscribed on the base using the same font: McIntosh.
This one has a decorative dome-shaped lid which was missing from my other signed piece. The lid is a lovely Oriental shape - and in good condition. It has had a little restoration to a chip on the bottom of the lid - but this is not obvious on display or indeed unless under close inspection. I have photographed this for your inspection.
It is all hand-painted with a very attractive fruity pattern of bright lemons, plums, and cherries, stylized leaves, and abstract shapes.
The main body of the bottle vase is in good antique condition with no damages. It is nice and clean inside.
These pots are getting just so much harder to find - and my price for this old piece of unique Scottish pottery is certainly a fair one.
HISTORY: The MakMerry pottery grew out of the Scottish Women's Rural Institute, which was founded in 1917 in the Scottish town Macmerry by Catherine Blair.
Catherine had previously been an active Suffragist, campaigning for 'Votes for Women' and had a history of promoting female independence and equality. She became involved in the suffragette movement was by writing countless letters to the press about the plight of women.
In 1920 MakMerry was set up as the trading arm of the Institute. Initially, members invested small sums of money and produced food items for sale – but they soon moved into producing fine craftworks as well – one of the crafts was pottery decoration. They hand-painted smaller household items such as plates, shallow bowls, lidded pots, and the sweetest teapots – and all these are instantly identifiable and often featured delicate and stylized floral patterns.
UK POSTAGE ONLY. It will be posted with Parcelforce48 - so that it is insured and tracked in transit This will cost about £10 and applied at checkout.