Della Robbia Pottery was an art pottery founded in Birkenhead, England in 1894 by the painter and ceramic artist Harold Steward Rathbone (1858-1929) in collaboration with the sculptor Conrad Gustav d'Huc Dressler (1956-1940). Dressler was Art Director of the architectural department and Rathbone was Art Director of the sgraffito workshop and Works Manager. Rathbone was inspired by the teachings of William Morris and ideas the Arts and Crafts movement. He also admired the art of Renaissance Italy and the Celtic Revival. Both Rathbone and Dressler were admirers of the work of the potter William De Morgan (1839-1917). These influences are evident in the colourful and decorative ceramics produced by the pottery. The Italian-born ceramist Giovanni Carlo Valentino Manzoni (1855-1910) was also associated with Della Robbia Pottery in its early days but left the company in 1895 to form Minerva Art Ware Manufacturers in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
The pottery produced by Della Robbia was sold in the Liberty & Co.'s Regent Street shop in London and in its own retail outlet in Liverpool.
Pieces by the pottery were exhibited in 5th (1896) and 6th (1899) exhibitions of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in London; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Leeds City Art Gallery; Manchester City Gallery; the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and in the 2nd exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in 1899.
After Dressler’s departure Rathbone continued to run Della Robbia until 1906 when it closed.
For a detailed account of the life of Harold Steward Rathbone and the history of the Della Robbia Pottery see Carroll, Juliet. Renaissance to Regent Street: Harold Rathbone and the Della Robbia Pottery of Birkenhead. Ph.D., Liverpool John Moores University, 2017 which is available online as a PDF.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
