Charles Noke & Henry Nixon
Whilst attending the Worcester school of Design, Noke was also an apprentice modeller for Royal Worcester when he was 16 yrs old. His work at Worcester caught the attention of Doulton’s Art Director, John Slater (whom Noke later succeeded) and after 16 years at Worcester, he joined Royal Doulton as Chief designer based in Nile Street.
His early role was mainly modelling and decorating pieces to be displayed in exhibitions around the world, notably the Chicago World Fair in 1893. His ambition was to rival fellow competitors and he created large, ornate and highly decorated plates and vases. He is credited with the revival of figurines in potteries, particularly at Doulton, where he persuaded Henry Doulton that his figures would sell.
These ranges known as The Flambes, Titanian, Sung, Chinese Jade, Chang and Crystalline represent one of the greatest contributions to studio pottery made by a large British manufacturer in this century
Bellmans will be auctioning the below Chang vases on the 14th October, catalogued as separate lots and sold with a tempting estimate of £800-1200 each.
Nokes launched the HN figurines, named after Harry Nixon, who was in charge of the painting department.
Harry Nixon (1886-1955)
His service at Royal Doulton span an incredible 50 years beginning in 1900 and was closely associated with Charles Noke in the decoration of Flambe ware and the Chung and Sung art ware of the early 1900s.
He is best know for his figurine painting at Nile St and the HN series numbers on figurines introduced in 1913.
