Playful pigs, grinning cats, cockerels parading the perimeter of generously proportioned loving cups, and honey pots dotted with bees: Wemyss Ware (pronounced weems) is distinctive and eye-catchingly easy to enjoy. It isn’t hard to understand why the Queen Mother, King Charles and Elton John are among many illustrious collectors who have fallen for its charms.

Named after an imposing castle perched on sea cliffs overlooking the Firth of Forth, and the family who lived there, the story of what has been dubbed Scotland’s most famous pottery begins, improbably, in Europe in 1882. Robert Heron, the innovative owner of a pottery in Kirkaldy, Fife, set off on his travels, scouting for new talent to upgrade his company’s production.

It was probably in Germany that Heron met Karel Nekola, a talented young decorator from Czechoslovakia, and offered him employment. Nekola wasn’t the only European craftsman Heron recruited, but he was the only one who enjoyed life in Scotland enough to stay on. It wasn’t just the work, but the setting, that drew him.

A keen walker, Nekola went on long rambles in the surrounding countryside, and the flora and fauna he observed were used to adorn the ambitious decorative wares he designed and produced under the name of Wemyss Ware.

Nekola’s creations were made in moulds and fired at low temperature. The porous biscuit body was expertly handpainted, a lead glaze applied, and the piece fired again. The low firing temperature meant that pieces were relatively fragile and the glaze was prone to cracking. But the naturalistic decoration, featuring fruits, animals and flowers such as roses, thistles, forget-me-nots, brambles and buttercups, on a plain white ground, had a charm that quickly captured a keen following.

The enterprise was boosted by the patronage of Lady Eva Wemyss who brought aristocratic guests to visit the pottery and encouraged them to buy. Some of the designs were inspired by ceramics in the Wemyss family collection and the pottery also made special commemorative pieces for them.

By the 1890s, Wemyss Ware had a reputation for excellence. Luxury London retailer, Thomas Goode, had exclusive rights to sell the ceramics and dedicated an entire room to Wemyss Ware in the Mayfair showroom. One reporter wrote: ‘I was amused too at the lifelike pigs which I saw… I was told that the great ladies of the countryside have them in their halls or conservatories.’

Along with pigs, Wemyss made cats and dogs, as well as a huge range of other items: trinket dishes for the dressing table; accessories for the wash table and writing desk; pots for the conservatory; as well as vases, tablewares and small items such as buttons, doorknobs and bell pulls. Thomas Goode occasionally placed orders providing pieces of chintz, so that clients’ ceramics could match their soft furnishings.

Wemyss Ware’s early success waned after The First World War as fashion moved on and the economic climate shifted. Sales flagged, and in 1930 the Fife factory was forced to close. The Wemyss name, along with its moulds, were sold to the Bovey Pottery in Devon. By then Karel Nekola’s son, Joseph, was head decorator, and he moved to Devon to supervise.

For nearly three decades, Wemyss Ware continued to be made, using slightly different production techniques that made the body whiter and the glaze less prone to cracking and more robust. Jan Plichta, a London retailer, also commissioned items from the Bovey Pottery, some of which were decorated in Wemyss style but marked Plichta.

After Joseph Nekola’s death in 1952, his apprentice, Esther Weeks, took over as chief decorator at the Bovey factory until it closed in 1957. The Wemyss Ware name was then bought by Royal Doulton, who produced a commemorative goblet for the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday, but nothing more.

The final chapter in Wemyss’s story began in the 1980s, when Brian Adams, a ceramic historian and restorer, began producing replica pieces known as Exon Wemyss in Devon, with the aid of Weeks. Meanwhile in Scotland, Griselda Hill, an art teacher, began producing Wemyss-style pottery cats at the Ceres Pottery in Fife, inspired by a pig her grandmother had owned.

Hill eventually acquired the Wemyss trademark in 1985, and in the 1990s Weeks worked with the pottery, teaching decorators the traditional techniques she had learned from Joseph Nekola. The pottery is still in production today, making decorative items under the Wemyss Ware name.

The collectors’ market for Wemyss provides something for every purse. Rare and skilfully decorated pieces made during the first Scottish period, especially those that can be attributed to a particular maker, fetch the highest prices. The record for Wemyss was achieved in 2004, when Elton John bought two sleeping pigs for £34,800 each.

These days cats, probably inspired by Emile Gallé’s creations, have risen in popularity. A tabby cat made £18,000 in a sale in January at Lyon & Turnbull, and other unusual and signed items also proved popular. A large vase decorated with hollyhocks by Karel Nekola made £15,120, and a lemon squeezer made £6,930 in the same sale.

But expect to pay between £200–500 for more modest pieces, such as pin trays, plates and mugs. Bovey-made pieces are even more affordable, although there are exceptions for high-quality pieces decorated by Joseph Nekola. The secondary market for Griselda Hill pieces is the most accessible price-wise, and you will often find multiple pieces sold together for under £100.

As a collecting area, however, Wemyss is not without pitfalls. In the early 2000s, during the heyday of Wemyss collecting, a proliferation of Far Eastern fake pigs in puce and red appeared on the market and eroded collector confidence. Fake pigs tend to be heavier than the genuine ones and the marks are bigger.

As ever, the advice for new collectors is to learn from experts, buy from reputable sources and familiarise yourself with genuine marks.

Find out More

Scottish Wemyss Ware 1882–1930: The George Bellamy Collection by George Bellamy
Wemyss Ware: A Decorative Scottish Pottery by Peter Davis
Potteries of Kirkaldy by Carol McNeill
Kirkaldy Galleries Museum kirkaldy.galleries@onfife.com