Vintage H&K Tunstall Autumn Hand Painted Fruit Dish, c. 1933–1942
Viridian Eclection
The Piece
A small hand painted dish with a shaped octagonal rim drawn out into two flat tab handles, the whole of the inside painted freehand and the outside finished in a clear buttercup yellow.
The ground is the striking part. Broad brushloads of cobalt, lilac, sage and tan are laid side by side and pulled across the well in loose vertical strokes, with the cobalt jagged where the brush was dragged out to a point. Nothing is blended. The colours sit next to each other the way poster paint does.
Out of that ground a cluster of fruit is drawn at one side: a bunch of deep blue grapes, a yellow lemon, a peach and a red plum, each outlined in black and filled with thin washes, with green leaves veined in black scattered around the rim. The black outlining is confident and quick.
The rim is edged in a fine black line, the tab handles carry a moulded fan of ribs, and the underside is a clean bright yellow to the foot.
History & Provenance
The base carries a printed backstamp: a rearing unicorn in a rectangular panel, with MADE IN ENGLAND, H and K, and TUNSTALL alongside it, and the pattern name AUTUMN in green script above.
H and K Tunstall is Hollinshead and Kirkham, of the Unicorn Pottery at Tunstall in Staffordshire, which is why the mark carries a unicorn. The firm worked at Tunstall from the later nineteenth century until 1956, when it was taken over by Johnson Brothers. Its hand painted wares of the interwar decades sit in the same Staffordshire current as the better known Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper work, produced by paintresses working freehand over a printed outline or, as here, with no outline at all.
The range given below is the window the antiques trade consistently assigns to this particular backstamp, and it is worth being plain that it comes from dealer consensus on the mark form rather than from a surviving company archive. The firm's own operating dates at Tunstall are the outer bracket, and those are secure. Within them, this mark, with MADE IN ENGLAND and the pattern name printed in green, belongs to the interwar and early war period rather than to the earliest or the final years.
No paintress mark or tally number is present, which is common on the smaller pieces.
Product Details
| Era | c. 1933–1942. Dated by the backstamp. The unicorn panel with MADE IN ENGLAND, H and K, TUNSTALL, and the pattern name in green script is the mark form the trade consistently places in this window, which is dealer consensus on the mark rather than an archival record and is given as such. The secure outer bracket is the firm's working life at Tunstall from the later nineteenth century until the Johnson Brothers takeover in 1956. No paintress mark or tally number is present |
| Maker | Hollinshead and Kirkham, Unicorn Pottery, Tunstall, Staffordshire |
| Pattern | Autumn, named in green script on the backstamp |
| Form | Shaped octagonal dish with two flat tab handles moulded with a ribbed fan |
| Decoration | Hand painted throughout. Broad unblended strokes of cobalt, lilac, sage and tan across the well, with a cluster of grapes, lemon, peach and plum outlined in black, and veined leaves at the rim. Clear yellow exterior, fine black rim line |
| Marks | Printed backstamp to the base as described. No paintress mark, tally number or registration number |
| Dimensions | Approximately 7 in. across the handles by 6 in. deep by 1.5 in. high |
| Condition | Excellent. No chips, cracks, hairlines or restoration found. Enamels bright and unworn with the black outlining crisp throughout. A few tiny blue flecks fired into the glaze on the underside, original to the making. Glaze clean with no crazing found. Foot rim unworn |
Why It Belongs in Your Home
This is the interwar Staffordshire look in a piece small enough to buy on impulse. The colours are laid on with the confidence of somebody painting the hundredth one that morning, and that speed is exactly what makes it good: the strokes are loose, the fruit is drawn rather than copied, and no two of these are identical.
Use it. It will hold rings by a sink, keys by a door, olives or nuts on a table, or nothing at all on a stack of books. The tab handles mean it passes well.
It also photographs far above its size. That cobalt against the yellow exterior is a genuinely arresting combination, and on a shop counter or an open shelf it does the work of something much bigger.
Every piece is packed with professional-grade materials: multiple foam layers, double-boxing, directional and fragile handling labels. For large furniture we use custom timber crating. We photograph packing before dispatch and can provide images on request.
White-glove delivery is complimentary within 100 miles of Reno, NV. National shipping quotes provided at checkout. All shipments are photographed and documented. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; we provide all documentation needed to support your claim.
Local pickup is available at Viridian HQ (Reno, NV) with 2–4 days notice. Contact us to arrange. Visit the Eclection on Tuesdays, 10 am to 4 pm.
All antique and vintage items are sold as described and all sales are final. Each listing includes detailed condition notes and photographs so you can make a fully informed decision. We encourage buyers to ask questions — about condition, dimensions, finish, provenance — before purchasing.
Antiques are irreplaceable and one-of-a-kind. Carrier handling is outside our control once a piece has left our facility, and major carriers including FedEx do not insure antiques. We do everything within our power to ensure safe transit, but cannot accept liability for carrier damage. If damage occurs in transit, we will provide full documentation to support your carrier claim.
Have a question? — we're happy to provide additional photos, condition detail, or discuss the piece directly.
