Roseville pottery
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
manufacturer in the 19th and 20th centuries. Though originally simple household pieces, the design of the pottery was popular with the American Arts and Crafts movement
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
and pieces are now sought after by collectors.
History
The company was founded by J.F. Weaver in Roseville, OhioRoseville, Ohio
Roseville is a village in Muskingum and Perry counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, along Moxahala Creek. The population was 1,936 at the 2000 census. Roseville is served by a branch of the Muskingum County Library System.-History:...
, in 1890. It was incorporated in 1892 with George Young, a former Roseville salesman, as secretary and general manager. Under the direction of Young, the Roseville company had great success producing stoneware
Stoneware
Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic ware with a fine texture. Stoneware is made from clay that is then fired in a kiln, whether by an artisan to make homeware, or in an industrial kiln for mass-produced or specialty products...
flower pots and other practical household items. In 1895, the company expanded by purchasing Midland Pottery, and by 1896 George Young had amassed a controlling interest in Roseville Pottery. In 1898, they purchased the Clark Stoneware Company in Zanesville
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...
, and moved the headquarters there.
In 1900 George Young hired Ross C. Purdy to create the company's first art pottery line—Rozane. The Rozane art line was designed to compete against Rookwood Pottery's Standard Glaze, Owens Pottery's Utopian, and Weller Pottery's Louwelsa art lines. The name Rozane was created as a contraction of "Roseville" and "Zanesville". By 1901, the company owned and operated four plants and employed 325 people.
Frederick Hurten Rhead
Frederick Hurten Rhead
Frederick Hurten Rhead was a native of England who worked as a potter in the United States for most of his career. In addition to teaching pottery techniques, Rhead was highly influential in both studio and commercial pottery...
was the art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
of Roseville between 1904 and 1909. He is associated with the Della Robbia line. (At the time of writing one of Rhead's vases holds the record as the most expensive piece of American art pottery: however, this is a piece of studio pottery from Rhead's California period). Frederick's brother Harry Rhead stayed on at Weller after Frederick left.
Frank Ferrell became the art director for Roseville in 1917 and was responsible for creating many of the most popular Roseville designs. Among the most popular designs created by Roseville are Blackberry, Sunflower, and Pinecone.
Roseville Pottery produced its final designs in 1953, and the following year their facilities were bought by the Mosaic Tile Company.
Collectors
Since the company closed, Roseville pottery has seen two distinct revivals: one with baby boomerBaby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
s in the 1970s, and again in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the Mission Style revival.
Today, many Roseville styles remain relatively common while rare pieces can fetch hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Because Roseville's designs were so influential, replicas and counterfeits are common, and the wide variety of kiln markings—or the lack thereof—on genuine pieces can be confusing for collectors.