Flapper and Bellhop – Fulper Pottery

Fulper Pottery produced this inkwell in the form of a flapper girl. The cartoonish flapper kneels before a decorated block with a book on top that acts as the inkwell’s lid. Anne Harriet Fish, a British artist and illustrator, designed the inkwell. The piece is signed “FISH” on the lower left side, while the underside shows the Fulper factory ink stamp.

Also pictured is a bellhop holding a package – lift the lid to access the inkwell. This piece was also made by Fulper Pottery and designed by Anne Harriet Fish.

Fulper Pottery was a company that produced utilitarian and art pottery in New Jersey from 1841 to 1930. It was founded by Samuel Hill and bought by Abraham Fulper in 1860, who renamed it from Samuel Hill Pottery. In 1909, it introduced its first art pottery line, Vasekraft, which featured Arts and Crafts style forms and glazes. In the Roaring Twenties, a market developed for bisque and porcelain novelties. Martin Stangl was the ceramics engineer who developed many of the art pottery designs for Fulper. He later bought the company and changed its name to Stangl in 1930.

Anne Harriet Fish (1890-1964), although born in Britain, became a renowned artist, illustrator, and cartoonist on both sides of the “pond.” Her work appeared in Condé Nast’s Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Tatler. Fish also created designs for Fulper Pottery of Flemington, New Jersey, and Hubley Manufacturing Company, which made cast iron toys and novelties, such as doorstops.