York Castle Museum

Studio Pottery

Our collection of 20th century studio pottery is one of the biggest and most important in Britain with more than 4,000 pieces.

It includes works by Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, William Staite Murray, Michael Cardew, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Jim Malone and Mick Casson.

Studio pottery is handmade pottery, made by an individual potter, or maker, in a studio, rather than mass-produced pottery made in factories.

We were given most of our studio pottery by two enthusiastic collectors. The first was the Very Reverend Eric Milner-White 1884-1963), who was Dean of York from 1941 until his death. The second was Wakefield librarian William Alfred (or Bill) Ismay (1910 2001), who was awarded the MBE for his services to studio pottery in the New Years Honours list for 1982.

Our collection also includes archive material from both men, including letters to and from potters, photos, journals and books.