The company was founded by Marie Longwerth Nichols (1847-1939) and produced until 1941. Around the turn of the century it produced ceramic vases and tiles inspired by Japanese art and decorations based on nature items, mainly glazed in several techniques.
In 1900 it received the Grand Prix in the World Exhibition in Paris.
Through the mediation by Samuel Bing, who was a great advocate of the Rookwood work, many museums in Europe aquired several items, like the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin (under which a vase by Harriet Wilcox for the price of 276(!) German mark) , and the Museum Für Kunst Und Gewerbe in Hamburg, not to mention Prague and Vienna.
Also the Boston Fine Arts Museum, and particularly the Cincinatti Art Museum in Ohio, by legacy of Marie Longwerth Nichols, do posess impressive collections.
