Flambé glazing has a long history behind it, developed by Chinese potters as early as the eleventh century, using copper oxide fired in a reducing atmosphere to produce the deep, unpredictable reds the technique is known for, no two results ever coming out quite the same. Royal Doulton adopted the process in 1908, and this pair of baluster urns, designed by Charles Noke and dated to the 1920's, shows the technique at a mature stage in the factory's hands: a rich red ground wrapping each vase in a continuous landscape scene of timber-framed cottages.
Charles Noke served as Royal Doulton's art director through much of this period and was central to developing and refining the factory's flambé range into a signature line rather than a novelty technique, and a matched pair like this, both showing the same landscape scene rather than variant decoration, is harder to find than either piece would be alone. The Art Deco dating places the pair within the same decade that streamlined, geometric aesthetics were reshaping most decorative arts, though the cottage landscape and flambé glazing here lean more toward the picturesque than anything geometric, a reminder that Royal Doulton kept working in its established decorative language even while the wider design world was moving elsewhere.
Condition notes
Very good antique condition. Chip to rim of one of the vases; light film on the glaze.
