Decorative Art

Two new dealer shows, Kensington – The Heart of Ceramics and A Collector’s Paradise, herald in this year’s high summer art season in London, while Ceramics Mayfair continues to delight in Kent

A regular selling show in the summer calendar is Ceramics Mayfair which has been going strong for 11 years and features the combined forces of Jupiter Antiques, Mark and Sandra Diamond and Catherine Hunt.

Shropshire auction of wares from short-lived ‘niche’ factory proves to be a good market test...

Inscriptions and/or dates add a premium in many classes of ceramics but especially so in delftware. Some afficionados such as the late Syd Levethan made this a particular goal for their collecting.

Woolley & Wallis holds one of its dedicated English and Continental ceramics auctions in Salisbury on May 23. The wide range of material on offer takes in everything from the major 18th and 19th century English porcelain factories to a group of Italian maiolica.

Following the glass and British ceramics auction, which takes place in Bonhams’ Knightsbridge rooms this week, the auction house holds its main European ceramics sale of the summer in New Bond Street on June 14.

This 176oz Victorian presentation silver centrepiece offered for sale at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury on April 25 has a strong Dutch connection.

Overshadowed by the boom in Chinese works and contemporary art they may have been, but the rise in demand for British studio ceramics has been the talk of the market these last few years.

Not so much in demand as they once were, Royal Doulton figurines still have their devoted following, particularly when they are rarities such as the Lady Jester (HN1222) piece offered at Michael J Bowman (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Chudleigh on March 25.

Among a handful of pieces of Gallé French art glass in a sale of decorative arts and design to be held by Tessier Sarrou & Associés at Drouot on May 4 is this example of the designer’s skills in the medium.

Silver was among the success stories of the wide-ranging March 30-April 1 sale at Hansons, in particular a 1705 Britannia standard chocolate pot.

A selling exhibition at the National Glass Fair on Sunday, May 7, will showcase some 40 to 50 pieces from the contemporary glassmaker Norman Stuart-Clarke who will be at the fair himself.

What Aylsham auction house Keys (20% buyer’s premium) considered one of the largest private collections of Lowestoft ever to come to market was a near sell-out on March 21.

A Russian ceramic homage to Catherine the Great is among the highlights at Schloss Ahlden’s sale on May 6-7 in Ahlden, Lower Saxony. The impressive 22in (55cm) high bronze-mounted porcelain ensemble in the form of a temple dates to the 1780s or ’90s and is estimated at €48,000. It was produced by the Gardner factory in Moscow, which was founded in 1765.

The Bovey Pottery Company, closed in 1957, would have passed into collecting history without incident had it not been for the ‘Our Gang’ collection of figures.

The English porcelain specialist Simon Spero opens his 37th catalogued exhibition this week in his Kensington shop.

This 8¾in (23cm) diameter Liverpool delft charger, dated 1738, is initialled MML for Michael and Mary Lightfoot, members of a Quaker family who lived in Chester County.