Wheatley Pottery Marks
Wheatley Pottery (1880-1927) Thomas J. Wheatley had worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the founders of the art pottery movement, including M. Louise McLaughlin of Rookwood. Wheatley made pottery in the sale style as Grueby Pottery. In about 1903 Wheatley started producing art pottery using matt green glaze. Wheatley developed a process for casting Grueby’s low-relief surface decoration using a mold. The architectural designs had vertical lines that concealed mold marks. The heavy, textured opaque glaze obscured any remaining mold marks. Wheatley also made hand modeled pottery.
T.J. Wheatley played a role in founding the Cincinnati Art Pottery in 1880, as well as T.J. Wheatley and Company, 1880-82, and the Wheatley Pottery Company with Isaac Kahn in 1903.
Wheatley didn’t experiment, but rather created molds very similar to patterns already known to be in demand by the public. Wheatley started producing garden pottery in “antique form” in ~1909. Like so many other factories, Wheatley’s plant was destroyed by fire in 1910. This is when production of Art Pottery ceased. Wheatley continued to manufacture garden pottery, and when Wheatley died in 1917 he was only making faience tiles, garden furniture, bird baths, vases and boxes.
Art pottery pieces from the Wheatley Pottery Company were signed with conjoined WP within a circle, either impressed or on an attached paper label. Architectural and faience products were signed “Wheatley” in block letters or with impressed catalog numbers.
Tags: Pottery Mark, Wheatley Pottery