Egg ramekin

Peter Stichbury’s simple ramekin exemplifies the Leach Pottery’s standard-ware range, which the 1957 catalogue described as ‘good hand-made domestic pots within the reach of the every-day user’. It included single objects, sets for the table, and ovenware, all made from stoneware or porcelain. Typical glazes included oatmeal, tenmoku (a Japanese/Chinese glaze containing iron oxide), and celadon (an early Chinese and Korean glaze, greenish in colour varying from transparent and pale to vivid jade). At St Ives, Stichbury had to master a single shape like this before moving on to make another – a process which greatly developed his throwing technique.