A striking Lapis Ware Art Pottery pedestal bowl from Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian c1930. Abstract design in lapis-ware colours on a grey stippled ground. Thrown by E.T. Radford and decorated by Gladys Rodgers. Impressed Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian mark to base. Incised monogram for E.T. Radford and underglaze painted monogram for Gladys Rodgers. The bowl is 25cm in diameter and 10cm in height.
 
Lapis Ware was first introduced by Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian in 1929 - so called because of its resemblance to Lapis Lazuli. The effect is produced by selecting underglaze colours that diffused through the glaze, producing a design that had no shape edges. This was very different to the sharply defined decoration that potters had previously been striving for.
E.T. Radford worked at Wedgwood, Linthorpe Pottery, Burmantofts and Doulton before being engaged by Pilkington's where he worked until his retirement in 1936. He was recognised as one of the finest throwers of his time. Gladys Rodgers is the best known of Pilkington’s women artists. She joined c1907 and attended the Levenshulme School of Art. Until 1928 Rodgers painted primarily Lustre Ware pottery however after 1929 she moved almost entirely to decorating Lapis Ware pottery until the closure of Pilkington’s Pottery section in 1938.