159. Dieter Kunzemann, 1928-2011, small slip-decorated squarish plate, ca. 1958
Dieter Kunzemann was born near Leipzig, Germany, in 1928. He trained and worked with his father-in-law, country potter Chris Harries, at Coldstone Pottery in Oxfordshire from 1953 to 1967. In 1967 he started Evenlode Pottery in Gloucestershire. He is known for producing domestic and decorative slipware, mostly with wheat-ear decoration and using green, yellow and black glazes. The seller gave the date of this as “ca. 1958.”
A fine-grained red clay, glazed in yellows and browns, base left unglazed. Weight: 188 g (7 oz). Width: 12.7-13 cm (5 5 to 5-1/8 in); diagonal: 14 cm (5-1/2 in). Height: 1.3 cm (5-8 in).
This is a shallow bowl/saucer, probably shaped using a mold. The clay slab is about 0.4 cm (1/8 in) in width. The piece sits directly on the flat base. The artist’s mark, a “K” inscribed within the open space of a “D”, was pressed into the base. The sides curve upward in a convex arc to meet an upward beveled lip. The interior surface mirrors the exterior. The glazed surfaces are extremely smooth (every touch leaves a fingerprint); the unglazed clay is only very slightly rough.
The exterior surface and the beveled edge are a dark reddish brown in color; The upper surface is a yellowish brown with a band of slip decoration in a darker brown. The surface is very glossy, perhaps the result of a finishing luster glaze or soda/salt firing. The design was created in part by pulling the tip of the brush away from a circular blob of slip to extended it outward in a sharp point.
This highly glazed and carefully designed piece is typical of a movement in decorative pottery in the 1950s toward a more abstract “folk” and “arts and crafts” decoration. The decoration is lively and free-wheeling. The “points” on the slip decoration impart a lot of movement to the piece. The glazing on this is rich and beautiful.
Purchased from the CharlieB Gallery in Carson City, Nevada, November 2021.
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