Decorative Art

The market for traditional British and Continental ceramics did not lie idle for three months. As ATG reports, a renewed enthusiasm greeted the first major UK sale since lockdown

This set of 40 Paris porcelain cabinet plates, c.1850, decorated with views of Constantinople, sold for €36,000/£32,730 (estimate €20,000-30,000) at a recent sale held by Dutch firm Oriental Art Auctions (28% buyer’s premium) in Hattem.

The sale of the Müller-Frei collection of paintings and decorative arts held by Koller (25% buyer’s premium) in Zurich last month included two early 18th century Meissen figure groups that outstripped their estimates.

The New Hall China Manufactory holds an important place in the history of English porcelain. Active from 1781-1835, it was effectively a cooperative between several Staffordshire earthenware makers, who acquired the Bristol porcelain patent and financed a factory together, first at Tunstall and then at Shelton New Hall in Hanley.

The Rijksmuseum was in action at the Drouot to carry off a 9½in (24cm) wide porcelain punchbowl from the Ansbach factory.

Bonhams will sell the third tranche of a substantial private collection of Meissen on July 22. It includes a number of Böttger stonewares with this 4in (10cm) head of the Emperor Vitellius, c.1710-13, estimated at £4000-6000.

Large, bold and decorative, transfer-printed pottery footbaths have an appeal that goes beyond collectors of 19th century ceramics.

This rare 2in (5cm) English delftware ointment pot, c.1775, carries the inscription in manganese 'The Queen’s Dentifrice'.

Staffordshire flatback figures have been off the boil for a while.

International bidders competed online and by phone against the UK trade and collectors for a group of 18th century Meissen figures offered at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Macclesfield.

Pictured here are five from a near-complete set of 41 polychrome terracotta figures of the Danse Macabre offered by Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) in Cologne. They are typical of the work of Anton Sohn (1769-1841), who settled in Zizenhausen near Stockach in 1799.

This 14in (35cm) early 19th century Liverpool creamware tureen and ladle marked for the Herculaneum factory is transfer-printed in black with portraits of Nelson.

This spiral-moulded cream jug decorated with a drummer boy is from a well-documented Caughley tea and coffee service painted with figural subjects by Fidelle Duvivier during a brief period of work at the Chamberlain factory in Worcester in October 1792.

The original Richard Redgrave (1804-88) design for this 5in (12cm) christening mug – offered for sale by H Blairman & Sons priced at £12,000 – was published in the 1847 catalogue Art Manufactures Collected by Felix Summerly.

This pair of early 19th century Neoclassical Sheffield plated wine coolers proved to be one of the more sought-after entries in the Doyle (25/20/12.5%) sale of silver furniture and decorative arts in New York.

Topping the Mid-Century Design sale held by Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, was a trademark work by Peter Collingwood (1922-2008) – the British craftsman at the forefront of weaving for 50 years.

Among the sales series held by Koller (25/22/15% buyer’s premium) in Zurich in June that had been postponed from March was the single-owner auction of works from the Müller-Frei collection.

It has been an undeniably difficult few months for antiques dealers with shops and centres shuttered and fairs cancelled. However, online events such as the recent ‘virtual’ 'Masterpiece' fair have helped generate some business, and many shops are now open under the usual restrictions.