The Egyptian Vulture Vase
One of our favourite pieces in the collection is this striking globular monochrome vessel with gold detail, a prominent image of the vulture goddess Nekhbet in flight above a frieze of lotus flowers.
Made around 1930, the printed base mark ‘HJ England’ identifies it as a piece of Harley Ware, produced by Arthur George Harley Jones (1). Born in 1874 to an ‘earthenware manufacturer’ from Stoke-on-Trent, Harley Jones followed his father’s profession manufacturing both earthenware and china, in 1901 setting up his own business in Fenton, Stoke to make pottery ‘of the ornamental kind’. Proving so successful he set up ‘Royal Vienna Art Pottery’ in 1905, again in Fenton, he was described as a ‘manufacturer of artistic fancy goods, Royal Vienna art pottery, and Samian pottery’ (albeit genuine Roman Samian ware is bright orange whereas Harley Jones’ Samian brand appears to be pale beige).
Again referred to as ‘A. G. Harley Jones, of Samian Pottery, Fenton’ in the Pottery Gazette, this describes the way he decorated his ceramics: “The method of ornamenting or decorating pottery ware consisting in tracing or pencilling a pattern of Greek, Roman, or Egyptian art upon the moulded article in the underglaze glost, bisque, or enamel stage, a lithograph or lithographs being applied in the enamel stage, and the patterns or borders being coloured, after which the ware is kiln-fired in the ordinary manner” (2), this description published in 1906 revealing he was already producing Egyptian-inspired designs.
By the early 1920s with his pottery works renamed ‘Wilton Pottery’, it was noted that by 1923 Harley Jones was “devoted to the collecting of pieces of pot by the old masters” (3), the Tutankhamun discovery the previous year no doubt further influencing his use of Egyptian motifs ranging from sphinxes to lotus flowers, Anubis jackals and of course winged vultures.
Based on the great vulture goddess Nekhbet, patron deity of southern (Upper) Egypt and one of the maternal protectors of each pharaoh, a number of vulture pectorals were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, that portrayed here found o the king’s mummified body (4). With each carrying a pair of shen signs in its talons to represent eternal protection, these same symbols are replicated on the vase, with a lower border of lotus flowers and over the vulture’s head a cartouche surrounding a somewhat ‘impressionistic’ attempt to write a monarchs’ name in hieroglyphs.
At the same time our vase was created around 1930, Harley Jones was also producing lustre ware, a technique revived by famed ceramicist William de Morgan back in the 1890s based on his specialist knowledge of Egypt’s manufacturing heritage since examples were produced there as early as AD C.8th (5). In Harley Jones’ case, his lustrous ‘Wilton Ware’ successfully incorporated Japanese designs on a red-orange iridescent background embellished with gold, although his blending of Oriental and Egyptian themes for his colourful Chinoiserie porcelain – in which Fo dogs/Chinese lions are placed atop vessels replete with bright coloured vultures and other pharaonic imagery including the same cartouche – appears rather less harmonious (6).
Certainly his monochrome palette gives more prominence and clarity to the vulture motif itself. Produced in both globular and square forms (7), our example not only features the addition of an Egyptian-style trim around the rim, its rounded form allows the vulture’s wings to be visible at their fullest extent.
The distinctive shape also echoes ancient ‘nu’ pots, the offerings vessels in which Egypt’s royal family offered wine to their gods (8), their tactile form fitting perfectly into the open palms revisited in what we consider to be Harley Jones’ finest creation.
SKU:
Dimensions: 22cm tall
References:
- A-Z of Stoke-on-Trent Potters: A. G. Harley Jones (thepotteries.org)
- The Pottery Gazette, 1.11.1906
- The Pottery & Glass Record, July 1923, p.542-544
- Nekhbet vulture collar in gold and polychrome glass, https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Egyptian-18th-Dynasty/439200/Collar-in-the-form-of-the-vulture-goddess-Nekhbet,-from-the-tomb-of-Tutankhamun,-New-Kingdom.html
- Dodds, J. ‘Lustreware across Borders’, Ashmolean Museum https://www.ashmolean.org/article/lustreware-across-borders; for de Morgan see Fletcher, J. 2024, Tutankhamun, Art and Yorkshire, Egyptian Archaeology 64, p.34-39 https://www.ees.ac.uk/our-cause/publications/egyptian-archaeology.html
- Bonhams : A pair of AG Harley Jones Wilton Ware lustre vases circa 1930 as compared to Sold at Auction: JH ENGLAND CHINOISERIE EGYPTIAN PORCELAIN VASES (invaluable.com)
- Roseberys London | An Egyptian Revival ceramic vase in black with gold
- Kneeling statue of Tuthmosis III with nu pots c.1450 BC at: https://egypt-museum.com/kneeling-statue-of-thutmose-iii/ which states that “the posture of the king kneeling and holding two [nu] pots in offering to a deity first appears in the reign of Hatshepsut (about 1479-1458 BC)”
