Historical information

The Royal Doulton company began as a partnership between John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watt was an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of English pottery. The business was specialised in making salt-glazed stoneware articles, including utilitarian or decorative bottles, jugs and jars, much of it intended for inns and pubs. The backbone of the business was a wide range of utilitarian wares, mostly stonewares, including storage jars, tankards and the like, and later extending to pipes for drains, lavatories and other bathroom ceramics. From 1853 to 1902 its wares were marked Doulton & Co., then from 1902, when a royal warrant was given, Royal Doulton.
The company always made some more decorative items, initially still mostly stoneware, and from the 1860s the firm made considerable efforts to get a reputation for design, in which it was largely successful, as one of the first British makers of art pottery. Initially, this was done through artistic stoneware's made in Lambeth, but in 1882 the firm bought a Burslem factory, which was mainly intended for making bone China table wares and decorative items.

Significance

An early utilitarian stoneware item made by a well-known company that specialised in making salt-glazed items that later earned a reputation for making stoneware art objects. This ink well is historically significant as it represents the method of hand written communication that was still common up until the mid-20th century, before fountain pens and ballpoint pens took over in popularity and convenience.

Physical description

Ceramic, salt-glazed, mid-brown ink bottle. It has a small round mouth, rounded lip that extends past neck, wide shoulders, straight sides, flat base. Handmade. The surface is matt. there are flecks of dark brown in the clay. The bottle has marks on the side.

Inscriptions & markings

None