Charles John Noke (1858 – 1941) British Ceramicist

Charles John Noke (1858 – 1941) was a British ceramicist. He is known for creating a wide range of pottery using various techniques and was instrumental in establishing Doulton as a global leader.

Charles Binn was his teacher at the Worcester Royal Porcelain.

In 1889, he went to work for Doulton in Burslem as a modeller.

From 1893 to 1898, he modelled vases (including Columbis and Diana) and figures (including Holbein ware and Rembrandt vases). With Cuthbert Bailey and John Slater, he experimented with the reproduction of Sung, Ming, and early Ch’ing dynasty blood-red rouge flambe glaze and sang-de-boeuf glazes from the late 1890s to the early 1900s. Noke’s most significant accomplishment was producing a line of experimental transmutation glazed wares that are on par with Sèvres, Copenhagen, Dresden, and even the Far East.

Noke and William Edmund Grace introduced ‘ Series’ wares in c1906.

He was the artistic director at Doulton from 1914 to 1936. He launched Titania ware in c1914 and Sung ware in c1915.

Flambé glaze designs

Noke created flambé glaze designs with Harry Nixon and his son Cecil Jack Noke and introduced Chang ware, named after the southern Sung potter Chang, the Elder. The fiery red colour of Doulton’s Flambe Ware was very striking, and several different pieces were made with this finish. In 1904, the St. Louis Exhibition featured Doulton’s first flambe finished goods.

Noke retired in 1936 and was replaced by his son. All of the glazes were in use until 1940. Sung and rouge flambé glazes were reintroduced to the market in 1965.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, January 16). Charles Noke. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:17, May 5, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Noke&oldid=1000632187

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