Wemyss Ware – unique ceramics spanning centuries and countries

Brightly coloured Wemyss Ware ceramics are famous for their unusual shapes and hand-painted decoration of natural subjects, such as fruits, flowers and British wildlife. Some of the most famous designs include the bee pattern used for honey pots and dishes, the ‘Bonjour’ pattern with black cockerels on bright green grass, and hand-painted cabbage roses and clovers on unusual shapes.

The most exclusive items linked to the Wemyss name are the playful ceramic animals, in particular cats and pigs. These pieces are created from a mould and painted with floral or realistic details before being glazed. The pig, a symbol of abundance and fertility for different cultures around the globe, is possibly linked with the figure of Karel Nekola. He was the Czech head decorator at the Wemyss pottery during the late 19th century. Exchanging ceramic pigs as a good wish for the New Year is an old tradition in parts of Europe.

Wemyss Ware originated in the late 19th century in a pottery in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Its original and vibrant style was the result of a meeting between Robert Heron, the pottery owner, and Karel Nekola. Heron invited Nekola, a decorator from Bohemia, to Scotland after returning from a grand tour of Europe. Made head of the decorating shop at the age of 25, Nekola married Heron’s cook in 1884 and lived near the Fife pottery, where he raised a family of five.

During the Great Depression in the first half of the 20th century, the pottery in Fife had to close.The rights to the Wemyss name were acquired by the Bovey Pottery in Devon. Nekola’s son, Joseph, moved to England where he continued his father’s legacy as head decorator. Joseph had various apprentices, including Esther Weeks, to whom he taught the distinctive painting techniques he’d learned from his father. After Joseph’s death in 1952, Esther became head decorator and continued to paint Wemyss Ware until the Bovey Pottery closed in 1957.

One of the key factors to the success of the Wemyss pottery was its distribution around Europe. For many years, Thomas Goode & Co of South Audley Street in London were the sole agents for England. They also reserved various patterns, such as the honey boxes and jam pots.

The Wemyss name was brought back to life in the early 1980s when Griselda Hill, an art teacher who lived in London, was amazed by the Wemyss pottery she saw at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery. Inspired by her fond childhood memory of her grandmother’s Wemyss pig, she moved to Fife and decided to create Wemyss Ware-inspired pottery.

In 1994 the Wemyss Ware trademark was acquired by the Griselda Hill Pottery in Ceres, Fife. Esther Weeks visited Fife regularly in order to pass on the skills and secrets inherited from Joseph Nekola.

The pottery and the shop are still open today and customers can buy custom-made smiley cats as well as good luck pigs. The Wemyss Ware website shows the wide range of products available.

Project Reveal is a Trust-wide collections digitisation project. It will result in an updated database with high-quality images and unique object numbers for every item in the National Trust for Scotland material culture collections. Six regionally based project teams, supported by experienced project managers, will work across all our properties with collections to complete the inventory in 24 months, from July 2017 until July 2019.