Cup and vase from Greta Pottery

The cup has a full-rounded form, to which a strip ear handle is attached. The cup and matching saucer are glazed white and painted with a repeating rhomboid pattern made up of four blue dots.

The vase is composed of three juxtaposed and interconnected spheres and each has a round opening at the top. Both of the outer spheres has a small, protruding disc element applied to the outer side. The vase is glazed matte white and decorated with a pattern of fine blue lines, interspersed with purple dots.

The cup and vase were produced in exile by the ceramicist Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein. In 1936, the widowed artist fled from Brandenburg, where she had been director of a renowned ceramics workshop, and settled in England. There, the great success she had enjoyed in Germany eluded her. On re-marrying in 1938, she took her second husband’s surname, Marks. That same year, the couple founded the small company Greta Pottery. The hand-painted mark on the underside of the cup (“GP”) shows that it dates from this creative period. However, due to war conditions, Greta Pottery had to close in 1940.