Lalique surprises but majolica still rules

Overall, the message was that majolica still sets the pace but most named factories had their high points and there were a couple of surprises.

One was was a Cantagalli tinglazed wet drug jar, 101/2in (27cm) tall inscribed Sydi Cicoria Comp. To. It was restored and estimated at £150-200. It was offered with a makeweight 17th/18th century Spanish maiolica dish painted with stylised carnations which was cracked and rivetted. Despite the dish’s ruinous condition it was, thought Phillips’ expert Alison Gillatt, the key to the £2900 to which a North West dealer had to go to secure the lot.

Back among the majolica, three classic examples stood out – a couple of game pie dishes and a Holdcroft Heron stick stand.
Top of the trio was a 12in (30cm) Mintons pie dish and cover with panels of a rabbit and a pheasant and the cover surmounted by a hunting dog asleep beside a gun, powder flask and game bag. Dated coded for 1873 sold to a Southern dealer within estimate at £3500.

The second such dish, 13in (33cm) long, painted with a rabbit and the cover surmounted with a game bird was chipped to the base and the cover had been reglued. However, it was by George Jones & Sons and accordingly doubled the mid-estimate, bringing £2900 from the Southern trade.

The Holdcroft Heron suffered, as so many do, a large piece missing to the stand and minor chips. Nevertheless the 2ft 5in (74cm) piece left a £600-900 estimate behind to bring £2900.

Best price of the day came from a local dealer on an early Victorian Ironstone 112-piece dinner service painted in blue orange, pink and green with flowering trees and rockwork. It had some damage and repair, hence the £2500-3500 estimate but it took £4500.

A local dealer also took the best of the Worcester, a 23-piece part dinner service in the Lily pattern and including two ice pails which doubled the mid-estimate at £3300.

Best of the Oriental pieces was a pair of 18th century 181/2in (47cm) Chinese baluster vases with Dog of Fo finials. Painted in blue with figures in boats and mountain river landscapes, both vases had chipped covers and one was cracked but the pair made the bottom estimate of £2000.

Among the glass 14in (36cm) diameter Lalique Sirens opalescent charger with a sea sprite and moulded signature R.Lalique went over estimate to a London dealer at £3500. More of a surprise was a 7in (18cm) Villard vase with clear and frosted oval body, the sides moulded with a rectangle flanked by stepped curving panels. Carrying a stencil mark R.Lalique, France, it had small chips to the base and was estimated at £500-800 but sold to an Israeli bidder on the phone at £3000.

Phillips, Leeds, June 5
Buyer’s premium 15/10 per cent