Kensington Church Street dealer Paul Reeves did a double-take at Sotheby’s earlier this month. As well as curating their March 20 mixed-owner decorative arts sale titled The Best of British, he also mounted a week-long selling exhibition of his own stock under the same title in their Bond Street Galleries.
Reeves sold around two-thirds of his 130 exhibits, with a number going to institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. This pair of Edward William Godwin vases were bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum for £112,500.
The 7 1/2in (19cm) high glazed earthenware vases c.1877 are in the Japanese Aesthetic taste. Initialled by Godwin, tilework apart, they are the only known examples of pottery by the Victorian architect and designer.
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