Susan Parkinson & Guy Neale French Gendarme Bottle Stopper

A Parkinson Pottery bottle stopper modelled on a French gendarme designed by Guy Neale, soon after he came to work at the pottery in 1954.

Cashmore & Smith-Vincent [1] record that the request for stoppers originated in America. Specifically, the pottery’s American buyers wanted something typically British which led to Susan’s policeman bottle stopper.

Following the success of the policeman's head, Neale’s French gendarme was incorporated by Susan to extend the series. She also introduced two of Neale’s other military heads, a grenadier guard, and a cavalry officer.

Neale’s heads of officials were actually the first bottle stoppers designed at the pottery. Although, for his designs to enter the pottery’s normal production range it was necessary to remake the moulds. This work was undertaken by Susan, who also decorated the heads in the pottery’s typical style.

A friend of Susan Parkinson’s for many years, Neale was also a partner in the business, and later a director, when the pottery became a limited company.
For several years prior, Neale had worked in animation for a London film company but principally he was a surrealist painter.

Neale travelled to work in Spain and other countries after a couple of years at the pottery. In June 1958, eight full-page paintings by Neale were published in National Geographic. The feature was a collaboration with the esteemed William Beebe (naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author).

Neale's paintings ‘capture[d] the bright colours and fantastic forms of insects found in the jungles of Trinidad.’

The article was lavishly titled ‘The High World of the Rain Forest: In the Trinidad Jungle, Naturalist and Artist Work Together to Portray a Teeming Animal Kingdom Men Seldom See’.

[1] Cashmore, Carol and Vincent-Smith, Tim. 'Susan Parkinson and the Richard Parkinson Pottery' (Carol Cashmore, 2004).