Antique Moorcroft Pomegranate Vase – Cobalt Blue, Tube-Lined Fruit & Berries, Impressed Made in England Mark, Art Pottery, 1920s

A small Moorcroft art-pottery vase in the Pomegranate pattern — a cut pomegranate spilling its red seeds, set among grapes, a plum and berries, all worked over a deep cobalt-to-near-black ground that is the signature of Moorcroft's richest period. An ovoid body with a short flared neck, about four and a half inches tall; the kind of jewel-coloured piece that holds a whole shelf on its own.

Look closely at the outlines. Every fruit, every leaf, every berry is edged by a fine raised line of clay — this is tube-lining, slip piped from a nib like icing to build a low wall, into which the coloured glazes are then hand-laid so they pool and deepen inside each cell. It is the technique William Moorcroft built his name on, and it is why no two pieces are identical: the line wavers by a hair, the glaze sits a shade darker where it gathered. The cut pomegranate showing its seeds is the motif Moorcroft is most loved for, introduced around 1910 and carried through the decades; on this dark ground the fruit reads almost like stained glass.

The base carries the impressed MOORCROFT / MADE IN ENGLAND mark with a painted number (216). The impressed Made in England was used from around 1916, and the absence of the Potter to H.M. The Queen line — added after Moorcroft received Queen Mary's royal warrant in 1928 — places this vase in roughly the 1916–1928 window. I could not make out a painted W. Moorcroft signature in the photographs; it may be faint or worn, so I have left the dating to the impressed mark rather than overstate it (a collector with the piece in hand may be able to read more under direct light).

A word on condition, honestly: the glaze carries fine overall crazing, the fine network of surface lines that almost all early Moorcroft earthenware develops with age. It is normal for a piece of this period and not a flaw in the potting, but it is there and worth knowing. No chips or cracks are visible in the photographs.

• Type: Art Pottery Vase
• Maker: Moorcroft (William Moorcroft), Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent, England
• Pattern: Pomegranate (introduced c. 1910) — cut pomegranate, grapes, plum, berries, leaves
• Era: Circa 1916–1928 (impressed Moorcroft / Made in England, no Burslem; predates the 1928 Potter to H.M. The Queen line)
• Technique: Tube-lined slip outlines with hand-laid coloured glazes on a deep cobalt ground
• Shape: Ovoid/baluster vase with short flared neck
• Size: 3.25" / 8.3 cm tall
• Material: Art pottery (earthenware)
• Markings: Impressed MOORCROFT / MADE IN ENGLAND + painted number 216

Condition
Good antique condition with fine overall crazing to the glaze — normal age characteristic of early Moorcroft earthenware, disclosed in full. Pattern rich and fully coloured, tube-lined outlines crisp, no chips or cracks visible. Please review all photos as part of the condition record, and message for additional close-ups of the base or glaze under direct light.

Ships carefully packed from Canada. Combined shipping available.
Questions welcome — happy to provide additional photos of the mark or the glaze.

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