The Della Robbia Pottery was a ceramic factory founded in 1894 in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, near Liverpool, England. It closed in 1906. Initially it mostly made large pieces with high artistic aspirations, especially

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

panels for architectural use, but also ornamental vessels and plates, intended for display rather than use. The name was taken from the famous family workshop founded by Luca della Robbia in 15th-century

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, which specialized in large coloured reliefs installed on walls. Some of the Birkenhead pieces imitated this style closely, while others drew from the more general style of Italian maiolica. The pottery was established as a true Arts & Crafts pottery on the lines advocated by William Morris, using local labour and raw materials such as local red clay from Moreton, Wirral. The pottery, all

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

, had lustrous lead glazes and often used patterns of interweaving plants, typical of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

, with heraldic and Islamic motifs. It wares are not to be confused with earlier wares marked "Della Robbia" produced by Charles Canning in Tamworth. These were often smaller items in more conventional Victorian taste, with painting, often floral, sometimes in overglaze enamel, rather than the coloured glazes used in Birkenhead. In the early 20th century, Roseville pottery, an American pottery company used "Della Robbia" as a brand for wares (now very expensive) designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead, who emigrated from England in 1902.

Founders

The business was started by Harold Steward Rathbone and Conrad Gustave d'Huc Dressler (1856-1940). Rathbone, son of a wealthy local business man, Philip Rathbone, had been a pupil of

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

, who was one of the founders of the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

. Dressler was a sculptor, potter and also inventor of the continuous firing tunnel kiln. Giovanni Carlo Valentino Manzoni joined the pottery in early 1894, leaving to establish his own pottery, the Minerva Art Ware Manufacturers in

Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...

in July 1895. Manzoni returned to the pottery in June 1898, staying until its closure in 1906.

Products

Dressler was mainly responsible for the decorative architectural panels, many of which can still be seen in the local area of Birkenhead and Liverpool, as well as in the local museums. The brightly coloured panels, inspired by the work of the Florentine sculptor Luca della Robbia and his family, did not prove to be very popular on the dark brick buildings of the period, the pottery turning to large two-handled vases, presentation wares, wall chargers and plates, as well as ceramic clock cases, tiled window boxes, numerous types of vases and similar wares, as a source of income. Dressler left the pottery in 1897 to establish his own pottery, th
Medmenham Pottery
in

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow ( ), historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow, is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

. The Della Robbia mark is usually handwritten on the base of pieces with a ship device, and often the initials of the designer and decorator, and sometimes the date. Example initials include: * C for Charles Collis * C.A.W. for Cassandia Annie Walker * C.M. for Carlo Manzoni * E.W. and E.M.W. for Emily Margaret Wood * L.W. for Liza Wilkins * R.B for Ruth Bare * P.J for Percy Jacques

Later period

The costs of making the Della Robbia products was greater than the prices that could be charged. Even with the introduction of the professional services of a thrower and kiln man, as well as the use of commercial glazes and raw materials, the pottery could not make a commercial success of itself. In 1900 Marianne de Caluwé joined the pottery, injecting finance as well as bringing a new direction with her strong Art Nouveau influence. New exhibition venues in Scotland, even a renewed interest in the pottery's wares from 1900 through to 1904 could not help it survive, and so the pottery closed in 1906. Della Robbia art pottery was widely sold by Liberty & Co. as well as in their own retail outlet in Liverpool. A large collection of Della Robbia pottery can be seen at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. Some is also at Standen (near

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

) owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, and the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

in Liverpool. File:The Mason Vase, Williamson Art Gallery.jpg, Presentation vase, 1898 File:DAM Gideon Del Robbia.JPG, ''Gideon'', 1900, designed by Harold Steward Rathbone File:Della Robbia clock, Walker Art Gallery.jpg, Clock case, 1903 File:Earthenware urn, Walker Art Gallery.jpg, Vase,

File:Della Robbia Pottery6.jpg, Williamson Art Gallery display Image:Dellarobbia.jpg, Vase, 1894-1906, V&A Museum File:Vase LACMA AC1996.196.1.jpg, Vase, 1903 Image:Dellarobbia2.jpg, Della Robbia ship mark File:2A Price Street, Birkenhead 201812-2.jpg, The former works at 2A Price Street, Birkenhead

Founders

Products

Later period

References

Further reading