Niloak ( [2]) is a line of American art pottery produced by the Eagle Pottery Company of Benton, Arkansas. Eagle was founded by Charles Dean Hyten and his brothers in the 1890s and was the largest pottery-ware business in the Benton area by 1904. The name is the reverse spelling of kaolin, the main ingredient of porcelain.[3][4]
In 1909, Arthur Dovey joined Eagle to help Hyten, by then sole owner of the company, develop an operation for the manufacture of art pottery. Together they produced the Niloak product, the name taken from kaolin spelled backwards.[3][5]
The company was in business from 1909 to 1946.[5] The salient feature of Niloak was its "Mission Swirl," cration of which has been credited to either Dovey, Hyten or potter Fred Johnson.[5][6] The swirl is a multi-colored pattern using different clays and resembling marbled paper. Niloak's Mission Swirl was usually of red, tan, blue and brown in a counter-clockwise direction.
During the Depression years, Eagle manufactured a line of Niloak called "Hywood", which featured more traditional glazed pottery to adapt to market conditions and sustain the business.[6]
See also
- Charles "Bullet" Dean Hyten House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
- Arts and Crafts Movement
- Collector's Encyclopedia of Niloak
External links
Further reading
Author: David Edwin Gifford Collector's Encyclopedia of Niloak: A Reference and Value Guide, 2nd Edition 2000 Publisher: Collector Books ISBN 1-57432-190-0
References
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Vase (USA), ca. 1900 Smithsonian Institution, retrieved 31 March 2020^
- Roy Dudley Estate Sales: Niloak Pottery found in local estates YouTube, October 16, 2019, retrieved 15 November 2022^
- Niloak Art Pottery has a Local Connection What's Up? Media, 2010-11-09, retrieved 2026-01-30