Ceramics

An impressive 8in (20cm) high ice pail, cover and liner made what is thought to be a record auction result for Swansea porcelain when it sold for £38,000 hammer at Bonhams in Knightsbridge on June 5.

The fine and decorative arts sale to be held by Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania, on June 18-19 includes a selection of ceramics from the Amphora factory set up in what is now the Czech Republic.

A large Persian lustre tile dating from c.1300 sold for £95,000 at John Nicholson’s in Haslemere last month.

While British studio potters were battling to break through in the 1930s, established factories, even Moorcroft, were struggling to survive the Great Depression.

The May 22 sale at Dreweatts of Donnington Priory titled Japanese, Islamic and Indian Works of Art included a collection of Iznik and Damascus tiles from the estate of the artist Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017).

A pair of large c.1760 Chelsea ovoid vases made after a drawing by English architect and furniture designer William Kent (1685-1748), is on offer at Albert Amor this month.

Ceramics are a major focus of this report on sales from Germany. The selection of highlights and unusual pieces ranges from early 19th century products of the Vienna factory via Art Nouveau creations and 1920s Soviet-era porcelain to works by famed 20th century Studio potters.

Headline stratospheric results should not put collectors off, as a London auction underlines.

Betty Klaber, together with her daughter Pamela, started their ceramics business Klaber & Klaber, in 1969, specialising in 18th century European porcelain and enamels.

The recent art and design sale at Cheffins in Cambridge included these two 1930s Moorcroft tubelined vases decorated with fish – a pattern from the later years of the William Moorcroft era.

Catalogued as ‘Art Nouveau… manner of Charlotte Rhead’, this pair of tube-lined tiles went at 10 times the estimate at Trevanion & Dean’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Whitchurch.

Derek Billings has died at the age of 86. For half a century he was an important player in the collecting world of Doulton art pottery. His late wife Kay was a very supportive partner in forming the collection.

Nineteenth century majolica ware is a speciality for Indiana saleroom Strawser Auction Group.

After 44 years working as an auction house specialist, John Sandon has chosen to retire from his post as international director of glass and British ceramics at Bonhams.

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s no longer hold regular dedicated auctions of European ceramics, they still cater for elements of this market in their main centres worldwide via series of mixed-discipline traditional decorative arts auctions.

Keys’ fine sale on July 24-26 will include more examples of porcelain from the local Lowestoft factory.

While dedicated sales of English and Continental ceramics are rarer beasts in the saleroom calendar these days, the traditional mixed-discipline regional sales are a repository for plenty of material from the main factories of the 18th and 19th centuries.