Decorative Art

Having for decades been like one of those obscure religions in which passionate believers go about their business to the benign bemusement of everyone else, studio pottery is winning converts by the day.

Selling just short of the auction record, this 10in (26cm) tall stoneware pot, below, by John Ward (b.1938) went to an online bidder on thesaleroom.com at £17,500 at Rogers Jones (20% buyer’s premium) in Cardiff.

The 96-lot section of studio pottery offered at Woolley & Wallis’ (25% buyer’s premium) wide-ranging ceramics sale at Salisbury on March 21 included a private collection of the work of David Leach (1911-2005) and Walter Keeler (b.1942).

An American private collector bid £15,000 for a rare Clarice Cliff figure group at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury.

Peoples of Russia part II… On these pages last week (ATG No 2330) mention was made of the series of porcelain figures of ethnic Russians produced by the Imperial Factory in St Petersburg from the late 18th century up to the revolution.

Bac To Basic Antiques brings a special display of First World War commemorative pottery to this edition of the Antiques for Everyone fair.

Julian Eade deals in antique pottery and porcelain. He specialises in Doulton, particularly artist-signed pieces, as well as Royal Worcester, Minton, Coalport and other factories. He stands at the upcoming edition of Antiques for Everyone.

MADAM – I am an artist and a restorer and have been working with broken Staffordshire figurines for some time now – re-inventing and giving them a new lease of life.

Porcelain by Jacob Petit (1797-1868) is a scarce sight at provincial rooms.

“It’s not the age or pedigree – it’s the look of the piece.” The phrase became less a heresy and more a cliché during the latter years of the furniture boom of blessed memory, when the increasingly influential decorator trade was spending substantial sums on 19th and early 20th century reproductions.

This year marks a 20th anniversary for Northamptonshire dealer Mark Goodger. He first established the business Hampton Antiques with his wife Sara in 1998 and deals in antique boxes and accessories from the 18th-21st centuries.

Last week’s review of a recently published ebook on a Dallas collection of early English pottery included an image of a pair of figures of the famous bare-knuckle pugilists Thomas Cribb and Thomas Molineux.

Among the first sales of BADA 2018 was this modernist Archibald Knox silver and pink enamel inkwell sold from the stand of The Peartree Collection for more than £10,000.

Collecting traditional English ceramics is still a popular pursuit on both sides of the Atlantic – but one where purchases are always tailored to fit the purse strings of the core collecting audience.

“I hesitated to share my collection in this way lest it be perceived as boastful, but I want to leave a record for the future. I hope Obsession… encourages other collectors to share their expertise in a similar manner.”

The name of the late Bill Coysh is instantly recognisable to enthusiasts of transfer printed pottery.

Multi-estimate results greeted the Joyce Paretti collection of perfume bottles sold by John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) of Fernhurst in two instalments before and after the new year.

The contents of a country house near Tetbury yielded many of the better lots in a Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Prinknash Abbey which included a garniture of three Pinxton porcelain bough pots.

The ceramics and glass offering at a recent Chiswick Auctions' (25% buyer’s premium) sale included a particularly fine Raeren salt-glazed jug c.1600.

Despite their small size and often unsophisticated appearance, Lowestoft models of animals are highly collectable.