This large (22 cm) bowl with flared sides and blue-green glaze is finished on the inside with bands of incised decoration. The maker’s name is inscribed on the base. I’ve recorded it as Anthill Pottery for want of a better guess. I can only find one mention of an Anthill Pottery - a website (probably not Australian) with no content that was set up in 2004.
I don’t have any more information to add about the origins of this bowl so I thought I would say something about its foot ring. A foot ring is an area at the base of a pot that some potters add to give stability. It also provides a low pedestal from which the main form can spring. In this bowl the foot ring has been glazed, creating a continuity of colour as the profile changes. The area under the bowl where the name is inscribed is also glazed and the base of the foot ring is trimmed and beveled to form a white circle the colour of the clay body.
Well-executed bases that explore the relationship between the form and the clay body are a signature of contemporary pottery, unlike the base of this much earlier blue-green jug with twisted handle by another mystery potter, “Scott”.
April 15, 2008 at 6:48 am
I have seen these pots for sale at the Bellingen(NSW) markets a few years ago. They were being sold by the owners of Anthill Pottery situated either at Bellingen or very close by.
July 13, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I bought two bowls and a vase at a garage sale yesterday ( 12/07/08).
The lady said they were Bellingen pottery. I didn’t know the name and found you when I tried to look it up. Would be interested in knowing more if you have any more info.
cheers.
July 13, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Hi Peter, I don’t have this pottery listed, but almost every country town has had at least one eponymous pottery in the modern era. Or did she just mean that they came from Bellingen? Do they have any potter’s marks?
Judith
July 18, 2008 at 7:48 pm
hi Judith
yes, they are all marked ” Anthill pottery”
All very pretty items with a beautiful blue/green glaze. one bowl looks identical to the one you have shown, one is flatter but wider,and a vase.
July 19, 2008 at 10:15 am
Oh, they are Anthill Pottery pieces! Now I understand. No, I know nothing else about this pottery except (thanks to the comments so far) that it is near Bellingen. I hope someone who knows more will one day find this post!