Griselda Hill, Wemyss Ware, Scottish

“This is a fine medium-sized Wemyss Ware pottery pig, measuring approximately 33 cm long × 21 cm high, decorated in the attractive and traditional Apple pattern. The piece was hand-painted by Susan Bentley, one of the principal decorators at the Griselda Hill Pottery and dates from circa 1997–2007.

The pig displays the classic Wemyss character with bold hand-painted apples and rich green foliage across the body, set against a glossy white ground. The decoration is lively and well balanced, with expressive hand-painted facial features and the typical soft pink blush to the snout, ears, and feet. The base is signed “Griselda Hill Pottery Wemyss” with the decorator’s initials “SB”, confirming Susan Bentley as the painter.

Overall the piece is in excellent condition, with a bright, glossy glaze and no chips, cracks, or repairs noted. It remains a very attractive and collectible example of late Griselda Hill Wemyss Ware, suitable for display or as part of a larger Wemyss collection.”

Griselda Hill Pottery in the village of Ceres, Fife, is the modern home of the celebrated Scottish ceramic tradition known as Wemyss Ware. The pottery was established in 1985 by Griselda Hill, who revived the historic Wemyss Ware style that originated in Fife in the late nineteenth century.

The original Wemyss Ware pottery was produced from the 1880s at the Fife Pottery in Kirkcaldy. Its distinctive character came from bold hand-painted designs — often featuring cabbage roses, pigs, cats, chickens, and other rural motifs — applied to cream-coloured glazed earthenware. Each piece was individually decorated by skilled painters and signed with the name of the decorator, a tradition that continues today.

After the closure of the Kirkcaldy pottery in the mid-twentieth century, the Wemyss Ware tradition was revived when Griselda Hill acquired the rights to the name and established a new workshop in Ceres. Since then, the pottery has continued to produce hand-painted ceramics using traditional methods, with many pieces still decorated with the classic patterns and motifs that made Wemyss Ware famous.

Today, Wemyss Ware from Griselda Hill Pottery remains highly regarded by collectors of Scottish ceramics. Each piece is hand painted, often signed by the decorator, and continues the long-standing craft tradition that originated in Fife more than a century ago.