Vintage HAROLD JOHNSON Pottery Flower Bowl, Signed, 1940s California Pottery, Dusty hot Rose and Chartreuse Green Glazes

Low, wide bowls like this beautiful pottery one from California were popular in the 1940's. They decorated coffee tables and console tables, often with flowers like water lilies floating in them (see our modest attempt in the last photo). This bowl, itself shaped like a many-petaled flower, was made by the Harold hot Johnson Pottery Company in Glendale. Johnson worked for a couple of the "Big 5" California potteries like Bauer before he started his own studio pottery in 1940. His company produced mainly bowls and vases and continued in business until 1952.

The two-tone color combination of glazes on this bowl--dusty rose on top and chartreuse green underneath--are typical of that decade. The underside is signed in script "Harold Johnson;" the fonts used to write these signatures vary widely and at least some of them were probably written by employees.

The bowl measures about 13 1/2 inches across, stands 2 1/2 inches high and sits on a 7 inch diameter foot. It weighs 2 pounds, 6 ounces and is in pristine condition, showing only the 3 stilt marks on the bottom, with no chips, cracks, crazing or hairlines. This California pottery flower bowl is a wonderful accessory for any room and makes a fabulous gift.

***On a few sites on the Web, there is information stating that Harold Johnson was the son of Fred Johnson, who attained some measure of fame working for Niloak in Arkansas and then J.A.Bauer in Orange County. This does not agree with Fred Johnson's genealogy on the site "Find a Grave," which shows that Fred had five children, but not one named Harold. Here's the link (you'll have to copy and paste it in your browser):

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122408461/fred-lee-johnson

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