Omega Workshop

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE BRITISH COLLECTION

Omega Workshop

1913 - 1919

Circular Plate

impressed with Omega mark (on the underside)

earthenware with tin-glaze and painted to the centre with an iron red swirl and green panelled border

diameter: 24.5cm.; 9½in.

Executed circa 1915.

Sale, Dreweatt Neate, Reading, 2001, where acquired by the present owner 

Roger Fry learnt to throw ceramics in 1913-14 and went on to produce the highly distinctive wares that were sold at the Omega Workshops at 33 Fitzroy Square. The shapes are spare, simple and generous, enlivened by the inflections of Fry’s hand and the subtle glazes such as the white one with its grey-blue film, as seen here. Dinner and tea services, bowls, dishes and vases were produced from moulds by the firm of Carter’s in Poole, Dorset. The pottery remained undecorated and the design on the plate here is not by Fry. Along with some simple modernist furniture, the ceramics produced by Fry are his most enduring contribution to the products of the Omega Workshops.

Richard Shone