Topic: Large and heavy Sowerby bowl with large plinth

[oyemicanto]

Hello
I recently bought this large Sowerby bowl and it came with a wide topped plinth.
I then bought on ebay a vase with the same pattern and thought if they were meant to be matched together?
Wondered if anyone had any info on this bowl please?
Many thansk Nigel

[Lustrousstone]

I'm fairly sure none of these pieces are Sowerby. The Sowerby similar plinth has on two steps not three. The vase is unknown and comes in two variants
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=879
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=880

[oyemicanto]

I wondered if it was Sowerby as the stylised cabbage roses are the exact same as the float bowl for the stump lady.The vase you show I used to have if that shape aswell it's a stunning piece.
My bowl I am informed sometimes has a series of raised dots in the centre so wondered if it was to fit something in the centre.
Probably another to add to the mystery.
Thanks Christine

[Lustrousstone]

There are quite a few unidentified pieces that have Sowerby features and Sowerby colours: this, for example, http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=1538
I wonder if there is a whole load of Sowerby stuff that was commissioned and thus does not appear in the catalogues/pattern books. I don't know that anyone has studied the order books.

[oyemicanto]

I have often wondered that myself haven't seen any Sowerby books or literature

[Neil]

Hi Nigel,
I have 3 of these large bowls in amber, pink and uranium  They almost glow, and really have some presence in a collection. My pink and uranium bowls have the number 808160, which according to www.great-glass.co.uk were designs registered  by Sowerby on the 23rd November 1935. The uranium bowl came with the plinth that you have shown. The uranium bowl has lugs in the centre of the base which holds the 'Flora' figurine (the one holding the flowers above her head) without any lateral movement at all. I believe the vase you have shown is a matching vase as it has the same diverging arcs at its pedestal that are seen in the the base of the bowl. I have the vase in pink and uranium. The pink one has the same wavy rim as yours, however my uranium one is flat across the top. I have a smaller 21 cm. bowl with the same design in the base as these large bowls. It has a similar design around the side of the bowl to the Flora bowl, with flowers and foliage, except it has 6 flowers, not 4, and every alternate flower is inverted. It has 12 alternating 4 cm. and 1 cm. convex arcs around the rim.
I hope this is useful information for you, and other readers.
Neil

[oyemicanto]

Thanks Neil thats great to know!
Wonderful news

[Simba]

I see this bowl with 'Flora' figure and vase in the 1936 Pottery Gazette on Glen & Stephen Thistlewood CD-Rom of Sowerby Catalogues....not a very clear picture but definitely there.

[Neil]

Hi Angela,
Yes, I have their Sowerby CDs, also.
That is where I was able to verify it visually, as well as having the Rd. number.
That page shows the vase that I mentioned in my reply to Nigel. Nigel's vase has a different undulating  top rim. His photo shows it turned out slightly, but that undulating rim design also goes straight up, maintaining the line of the body of the vase.
Neil

[Simba]

It's beautiful set but not seen as often as the other 'Roses' bowl...why would that be ? Would it have been an expensive piece perhaps ? Or just late in production so tastes changed ? I have seen Nigel's amber one and Sue at Black poppy has a gorgeous blue one.