Bonham’s had no difficulty dispersing the first instalment of the mammoth collection of Worcester porcelain formed by Milton and Jeanne Zorensky, offered in their New Bond Street rooms on March 16. Just five of the 416 lots were left unsold and even these had all found buyers by the end of the day.
The Zorenskys' aim for a comprehensive assemblage of the
factory's First Period production meant that the sale ranged widely
in type and value, and while there was no surprise in seeing strong
prices for some of the fashionable early pieces of Worcester or in
the £29,000 (plus 19.5% premium) paid for the impressive pair of
Kakiemon-decorated hexagonal vases that had been billed as the
sale's best seller, the demand for other less voguish wares was not
so readily predictable.
Causing much comment at the auction, for example, were the high
prices paid for some of the late 1760s/early 1770s underglaze blue
ground tablewares. This scale blue ground coffee cup and
saucer, pictured right, with rococo floral and figural decoration
of admittedly very fine quality, was contested to £10,000, more
than double its estimate. The buyer was a private collector in the
room underbid by London dealer Simon Spero and by Mark Law.
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