Clarice Cliff Feature Articles

I remember my first encounter with the pattern Secrets some 11 years ago when I first started collecting.  It was in an article I read about the famous 1972 Clarice Cliff exhibition held at Brighton Museum.  Clarice had been contacted by the curator and asked for some background information on the pottery so she supplied notes for the exhibits and a brief history of the Bizarre years.  Now being Clarice,  she didn’t want any fuss or publicity and refused to attend the opening but instead, kindly sent some items for the exhibition (these were later donated to the museum) and this included a Secrets Biarritz plate.  This plate along with some other pieces had been part of her own collection and it still resides at Brighton Museum to this day!  The way this plate was painted,  the pattern imposed over another, really caught my eye but it was not until last year at Fieldings Auctioneers (October 2012) that I purchased my first piece,  a shape 450 Daffodil bowl. Seeing the bowl in ‘the pot’ at the viewing really opened my eyes to how beautifully the pattern was painted and I set about on a course to find out and collect as much as possible!

Secrets was first issued in 1933 as part of the Fantasque range and became so popular it was produced until as late as 1937.  The colours, being more natural yellows,  greens and browns, fitted in with most tastes and became an instant hit  (It was also produced in a more vibrantly painted colourway often referred to as Seven Colour or Orange Secrets but was only produced briefly and therefore harder to find today).  It was painted on a wide variety of shapes including Stamford and Bonjour tea sets and a seemingly huge amount of fancies and preserves!  The pattern depicts an estuary view and on one side of the bank there are two cottages atop a rolling hill with chimneys gently trailing wisps of smoke and a pathway which meanders down to the waterfront (maybe one can imagine cosy walks during secret trysts?).  The other side shows a large tree in the foreground with green and yellow foliage overhanging a sandy beach with a smaller hill gently  rising behind it. The sea stretches out into the distance and this is cleverly shown with light blue enamel graduating into a darker blue for the horizon.  The banding on Secrets is worth a note of interest too. Plates tend to be banded in dark green, light green then yellow with jugs and vases usually having brown, tan and yellow at their base with the greens/yellow at the top.  Bowls on the other hand have the brown, tan and yellow banding on the outside and the greens and yellow in the interior. 

Now coming back full circle to the recent Fieldings Auctioneers sale (April 2013) another Daffodil bowl came up for sale in Secrets, this time shape 475.  I could not believe my good fortune seeing this in the auction catalogue and it was a 'must have' to go alongside my first buy,  the shape 450.  I was told both were part of a collection of someone very well known in the Clarice world and I’m glad to say were happily reunited  after the sale!  Being a popular pattern when it was produced does mean a lot comes up for sale at auction including eBay but these tend to be mostly small plates and preserves.  Occasionally a rare shape does emerge and there have been some very good examples in previous sales.  There was a beautiful Yo vase at Christies South Kensington in 2003 and there have been a few 464 tube vases but I have yet to see a Yo-Yo or Globe vase appear at auction or anywhere come to that.  Maybe there is one of these out there still to be discovered?

It is often thought that Secrets was Clarice’s favourite pattern and the cottages were meant to be a secret meeting place with Colley during the time he was still married.  Gossip was inevitable amongst the girls at the Bizarre shop where Clarice and Colley were concerned and this story may have come from there but this has never been substantiated with any of the paintresses who were asked, so remains hearsay and a mystery to this day.  It is possible the pattern is not a depiction of a place or scene but an ideological image Clarice had with the 2 cottages representing her and Colley romantically settled in beautiful surroundings leading an idyllic lifestyle.  Whatever it may mean or represent,  it certainly adds to the air of intrigue and romance of this pattern!

Ian Wuyts

Edited by Doreen Mann