Richard Batterham recent pottery

Richard Batterham at 80

recent pots: new stock

Photographs of Richard Batterham pots now in stock are shown below.  In addition, a new batch of small pieces has now arrived and is on the shelves but not yet on the website.

Please phone 01308 459511 to buy or enquire.

Potter Richard Batterham is probably this country’s leading maker of domestic stoneware. He celebrates his 80th birthday this year and is still making fulltime firing about five times a year at his Dorset pottery. Some pots, he says, ‘call out to me that they are really good ones’ and those are the pots we have in this show. Please call 01308 459511 or email us on gallery@sladersyard.co.uk if you would like a copy of the accompanying booklet. The pots we have in stock can be seen below.

Born 1936, Richard Batterham became interested in pottery at a very young age at Bryanston School, where an interest in craft and design was greatly encouraged. He learnt under the guidance of Donald Potter, who was a student of Eric Gill and had also worked with Michael Cardew at Winchcombe. After National Service, Batterham worked for two years under Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall.  There he and his future wife, Dinah Dunn, met Atsuya Hamada, a son of Shoji Hamada.  ‘I think we got a lot from him,’ Batterham says, ‘about how to handle clay. We were very lucky.’

RB121 Large Fruit Dish 45 cm dia £815

In 1959 they left to set up their own pottery at Durweston outside Blandford.  In 1967 Batterham moved into a new pottery workshop in Durweston and built a four-chambered oil and wood-fired kiln.  In 1978 with the help of the French potter Thiebaut Chaque, he also built a small salt glaze kiln.

Still in the same pottery, he works alone and now has about five firings a year producing some of his best work to date.  His pots are often referred to as the finest domestic stoneware in the Leach tradition, although he feels more in tune with the attitudes of Michael Cardew. His pots are made to enrich life rather than to adorn it. A superb craftsman, his colours are soft bues and greens through to caramel, browns and blacks with the nature of his glazes varying from thin and bright to thicker softer glazes. His forms are functional – simple, satisfying and beautiful.

RB43 Ten inch cut bowl 28cm dia £616

Describing his own pots, Richard Batterham refers to some of them as ’soft’ or ‘kind’, emphasising their human quality. ‘Michael Cardew used to say form was everything, and form is very important, but I tend to feel that it’s how the clay is handled that really makes a difference. I like to make something you can hold. If someone really hugs onto a pot, that’s lovely and just how it should be.’ Brushing away his own pre-eminence, he says, ‘You just get into the right frame of mind and get on with it.’

Richard Batterham’s work is in numerous museums, including the Tate and the V&A, and private collections and has been shown all over the world.  This summer Richard had his fourth major selling exhibition at Sladers Yard. Between shows we always stock his pots.

Richard Batterham is happy to take commissions. If the pot you want has already sold we will take orders on his behalf and ask him to make a pot similar to the one shown below specially for you.

RB63 Fluted Tazza Manganese 36 cm dia £575

Our new stock has now been photographed and is shown below. To buy or enquire about a pot please phone Sladers Yard on 01308 459511 or email gallery@sladersyard.co.uk or reply at the bottom of this page. If you hover your mouse over a pot its caption and price should appear. If you click on any of the images below they will all appear bigger with captions. Any difficulties with the technology, give us a call. Measurements are of the widest or tallest part of the pot. Please note the difference between the diameter of the circular part of a pot and the width which will include any handles, spouts etc.

RB63 Fluted Tazza Manganese 36 cm dia £575

RB121 Large Fruit Dish 45 cm dia £815

RB121 Large Fruit Dish £815

RB81 Combed Fruit Dish 43 cm dia £710

RB81 Combed Fruit Dish 43 cm dia £710

RB63 Fluted Tazza Manganese 36 cm dia £575

RB63 Fluted Tazza Manganese 36 cm dia £575

RB6 Lily Jar 28 cm high £220

RB6 Lily Jar back view 28 cm high £220

RB11 Large Pie Dish 26 cm dia £77

RB11 Large Pie Dish from above 26 cm dia £78

RB9 Medium casserole 21 cm wide inc handles £58

RB9 Medium Casserole from above £58

RB8 Medium Flat Casserole 28 cm wide £66

RB17 Large Melon Teapot 15 cm dia £121

RB19 Teapot medium chaste 12.5 cm dia £110

RB20 Teapot Medium 12.5 cm dia £110

RB21 Five pint jug salt 27 cm high £110

RB23 Three pint jug salt 22 cm high £88 and RB21 Five pint jug salt 27 cm high £110

RB23 Three pint jug salt 22 cm high £88

RB25 Three pint jug 21 cm high £88

RB24 Three pint jug salt 21 cm high £88

RB24 Three pint jug salt 21 cm high from other side £88

RB52 Medium Bottle Squared 40 cm high £795

RB70A Squared Bottle Hot Top 36.5 cm high £510

RB70A Squared Bottle Hot Top £510