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A thorough look at one of Clarice's most colourful,
smart and distinctive
patterns
Apples was produced for
Lawley's, Regent Street, London, and its national chain of
stores; it was clearly a pattern designed to keep this major
customer for Bizarre happy. The owners, Tom & Edgar
Lawley were close friends of Colley Shorter, and for many
years they were a major stockist of Clarice's wares.
Apples has always been
a popular pattern with collectors, but WHY? Let's analyse its
appeal:
***It has
some of the most complex multi-lining of any pattern ~ note
there are TEN lines on the saucer and plate, some emphasised
with clear honeyglaze in-between, giving it a very
sharp effect
***Apples is unusual in its
colourset ~ there is some orange, but teamed with a dash of
Manderlay Pink, and two shades of green it is unique
***The
distinctive black blocks (piano notes?) contrast with the
flowing forms of the fruit and leaves.
***Apples is also distinctive as
unlike many of Clarice's designs she never did an alternate
colourway of it
Look at the images below and it becomes clear how strong
this pattern is...
Apples IS the original name for
this pattern. It has been argued recently*, that its name was
'New Fruit', but in the original factory order books of the
period there are NO orders for this suggested name, whereas
there are orders for Green Apples. In practice as there
was no other pattern with apples in at the time it was always
referred to as just Apples.
Eric Grindley who worked at the factory was a close friend
of the CCCC for 15 years. He knew the main salesman Ewart
Oakes very well, and Eric's faultless memory, even in his 80s,
meant he remembered both Apples and the later 1936
pattern Eating Apples as being the actual original
names.
The pieces are of course from the best known example of the
pattern as it was featured on the cover of the 1996 book
Taking Tea with Clarice Cliff (Pavilion/Chrysalis
Books). This still holds the record of being the best selling
Clarice Cliff book ever, with sales of over 20,000 copies in
its first year of publication, and it remains in print to this
day.
Apples teasets have
proven scarce, the Stamford shape set illustrated has
both its cups and saucers (for illustration purposes only one
was pictured on the book jacket) but this set has never been
sold on the open market, so cannot be valued. In 2005 a
Conical set in Apples with some damage, was
sold by Bonham's London for around ₤7000.
Jane
Adams
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