THE ITEM
The sculpture has the form of a bear walking, capturing the ambulatory nature of the wandering bear in a still snapshot. The underglaze is almost black but, with the right lighting, shines with an iridescent sheen of blues and purples.
The green drip glaze flows from the spine of the bear, the crown of its head, the tips of its ears, the tops of its paws as well as extra dots of this contrasting glaze on its nose and eyes.
The variation in colour and the effect of gravity on the glaze evokes imagery of the Boreal forests surrounding the Blue Mountains, which the glaze is said to be inspired by. Or perhaps the shading of the glaze resembles moss growing on the bear frozen in time.
An interesting property of the glaze is that the glaze is not opaque - if a bright light is shone upon the bear, the brown shades of the clay underneath begin to shine through. This particular form of the bear was available as part of the Blue Mountain Pottery range from the 1970s.
CONDITION
Excellent, no chips, cracks or repairs. There is very light crazing across the piece and movement wear (wear that is commensurable with age of piece) on the underside of the feet - please see photos as part of condition report.
MEASUREMENTS
Measures c. 11" / 28 cm long (from snout to back foot) x c. 4.25" / 11 cm wide (across its widest point) x c. 5.5" / 14 cm tall.
Unpackaged weight: c. 0.7 kg / 697 g
NOTES
Sculpture will be securely packaged and shipping will be insured.
Shipping will be combined for multiple items.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Blue Mountain Pottery was founded by Josef Weider in Collingwood, Ontario just after World War II, and was named after the neighbouring Blue Mountains. Blue Mountain Pottery, also known as BMP, produced a range of pieces such as kitchenware, vases, ashtrays and bowls, as well as a variety of animal forms.
The Blue Mountain glaze effect was hand-produced with a 2-step brush and dip process, resulting in each piece being unique. Blue Mountain Pottery eventually closed in December 2004.