Derek Clarkson large studio pottery stoneware bottle vase c1980

Condition: Excellent condition, no chips cracks or restoration

This is a vase of unusually large size for Derek Clarkson, but otherwise with many of the typical features of his work, including the speckled ash glaze over which is painted Leach-style patterns in cobalt with dots of red bole, in reduction fired stoneware.  The rim is also finished with circles of oxide and tenmoku glaze, and the base just below the waist is unglazed.

The vase is marked with Derek's stamp used before 1987 (without the date mark) and probably dates from the period when he began full time potting, after his teaching career.

Derek Clarkson (1928-2013) lived and worked in Lancashire and trained at the Manchester School of Art. From 1949 until 1979 he taught at various art schools while potting part time, and in 1979 to 2003 he potted full-time.  See Alun Graves Studio Ceramics, 2023, and elsewhere.