Violet Elmer's Bird patterns - Part Three

Hummingbird
Designed by Violet Elmer

This is the third in a series of articles on the bird patterns introduced by Violet Elmer during her tenure as designer of Best Ware patterns at the Carlton Works from 1930 to 1938, and again after the war from 1946 to 1949, when she worked part‑time, as did Rene Pemberton, who had succeeded her in 1938 when Violet left to marry.

Hummingbird had three variants; the first, pattern number 3460, employed a MATT GREY ground, stippled blue, as shown on the REVO FRUIT bowl below. Parts of the print of the pattern are decorated in underglaze colours and, after glazing and being reprinted in gold, other parts are then are painted in raised enamels.

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The next variant, Hummingbird 3461, used a solid POWDER BLUE ground, with the pattern printed on-glaze in gold and decorated in raised enamels with additional gold, as shown on the CONE bowl below. Notice the small freehand-painted gold birds encircling in the background completing the composition.

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Two different birds feature in Miss Elmer's Hummingbird pattern, as neatly shown on the pair of vases below in the third and last variant, Hummingbird 3462, which has a MATT BLUE ground, stippled blue.

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It does look as though the birds were available in two sizes, the smaller being slightly less detailed on the engraved copper plate from which the pattern was printed.

The Hummingbird "cloud"

Aside from the border discussed below, Miss Elmer devises an elaborate concoction of swirls and flower heads mostly printed at the centre of a freehand painted "cloud". One or more were judiciously placed at the edges of ware to balance the extra wide border.

Anomalies

Below, I show two cigarette holders and one ashtray, each printed with one of the hummingbirds. The cylindrical holder immediately below has the pattern number 3960, which is a variant of Miss Elmer's SKETCHING BIRD pattern. I suggest that the "sketching bird" was too large for the small item, and so a smaller hummingbird was used instead, overlaying the "sketching bird tree".

Similarly, the hummingbird acts as a substitute on the example below, which is another SKETCHING BIRD variant, pattern number 3952.

Then as well, the little hummingbird serves as a substitute on the ashtray below, thought to be SKETCHING BIRD, pattern number 3889.

Borders

The border that Miss Elmer devises for the pattern is as flamboyant as her birds. It departs from the form of a conventional band-like border by having a wide, wave-like or saw blade edge, which is freehand painted to suit and fit the shape onto which it is applied. The bubbles-like part is gold printed and part raised enamelled. Barb has replicated it for us below for each of the three variants. Notice that on the example with the POWDER BLUE ground, 3461, the wave-like edge is reversed, presumably thought by the gilder to better suit the arrangement of the constituent elements of the pattern as placed on that particular shape.

Hummingbird Border for 3460 © Barbara Anne Lee 2026

Hummingbird Border for 3461 © Barbara Anne Lee 2026

Hummingbird Border for 3462 © Barbara Anne Lee 2026

Date of Introduction & Availability 

I estimate that Hummingbird was introduced in 1931. Its relative scarcity suggests that it was available for only a few years. However, prints of the bird alone on the SKETCHING BIRD pattern, as shown above, were used possibly into the 1950s.

The next article in this series will be about Miss Elmer's SEAGULLS pattern, part of the HANDCRAFT range, which is usually freehand painted, as it is in this case.