About this deal
William Moorcroft (1872-1945) was not the only designer to re-introduce the Medieval technique of trailing slip (liquid clay) by hand, using a pipette (like icing a cake). However, in refining the process so much and in continuing to specialise in it at his own pottery from 1913, he made it distinctively his own. He used a white porcelain-like body, capable of withstanding high temperatures. This maintained the crisp precision of the lines and helped in their containment of the different metal oxide colours. Florian Ware was Moorcroft's own name for a specific range but his employers, Macintyre, used the name for all art wares made in his department, even when they had been introduced before his arrival in 1898. It was sold through Liberty's and Osler's in London; Tiffany in New York and Rouard in Paris and was bought both by dedicated collectors and a wider public with aesthetic aspirations. The shape of this vase is described as 'baluster' and is a classic form most closely identified with Chinese ceramics of the 18th century. A vase as slim and as highly decorated as this was not expected to contain flowers; instead it is an ornamental object in its own right.