Decorative Art

MADAM – It was good to see Clarice Cliff featured in ATG No 2383. As mentioned, the pottery has had its ups and downs over the years and in any case ‘Clarice’ has always been a little ‘Marmite’.

This pair of plates, one of them extensively damaged and riveted, proved much more popular than predicted in a sale held in Carmarthen by Peter Francis (20% buyer’s premium) last month.

Stephen Kalms set up his antique silver business in The London Silver Vaults in 1991. He specialises in 18th-20th century works, particularly Victorian and Edwardian pieces up to the present.

The March Fine Sale at Keys in Aylsham, the first since a management buyout, includes both a group of Lowestoft rarities and pieces by other factories.

The ceramics sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on April 30 includes two maiolica apothecary jars and covers from the celebrated Fortuna series – an ambitious suite of pharmacy jars and jugs made in the third quarter of the 16th century.

If the 1970s and 80s are remembered as a heyday of English porcelain collecting it is because of enthusiasts such as Dr Dennis G Rice.

A month before the emergence of three Compass factory figures in Lewes, the eighth and ninth recorded pieces by America’s earliest-known porcelain maker were offered for sale in Salisbury.

Designer and decorator Serge Royaux 1924-2016, whose collection of paintings, drawings, furniture and decorative items is being sold by Christie’s Paris rooms on April 17, liked to entertain and to arrange the decor of his table settings to suit individual guests.

Rare examples of early English porcelain are still capable of remarkable sums.

On April 13 Skinner in Boston is holding one of its periodic sales of European furniture, silver and ceramics. Wedgwood is almost always a feature of these auctions and the latest is no exception.

A massive 3ft (92cm) high majolica urn – a riot of grotesque masks, mythical figures and other motifs drawn from Renaissance sources – combining the talents of two key figures in the history of the Minton factory was included in Fonsie Mealy’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale on March 5.

Last November, Lempertz in Cologne held a successful sale of 19th century porcelain from the so-called Twinight Collection, amassed from 1994 by the New York businessman Richard Baron Cohen.

This 1750s Vincennes porcelain bottle cooler is part of a collection of around 60 lots of French, (mainly Sèvres, Vincennes and Mennecy) porcelain from the estate of the film and television executive John F Ball to be sold by Butterscotch Auctions, in Bedford, New York, on March 30-31.

Porcelain from five private collections features in a special exhibition on the stand of Jupiter Antiques at this month’s Chelsea Antiques Fair.

As reported in this week’s Dealers’ Diary, Jupiter Antiques is holding the first spring exhibition in its 35-year history. It takes place within an outside organised event (Penman Fairs), The Chelsea Antiques Fair. Five collections feature, including hundreds of pieces put together by the late Dr Trevor Darling, who died last year. Ahead of the fair Jupiter Antiques has paid tribute to him.

Silver across five centuries caught the eye at provincial sales in February.

Rather sparsely catalogued, this unusual 14in (36cm) Lalique glass dish with a lovebirds design had emerged from a local unpaid storage unit into Hannam’s (23% buyer’s premium) February 18-20 sale in Selborne. Given a here-to-sell estimate of £150-200, it took £4200.

Familiar striking shapes and bright colours retain a strong following despite a fall in demand from the 1980s-90s heyday.

In the latest of our occasional series of collector interviews, we talk to Ian Harvey, 74, a retired chartered accountant who has been collecting all his adult life.

A selection of five pieces of Clarice Cliff offered at different price levels at Woolley & Wallis on March 20 .