The bowl, which measures 6in (15cm) in diameter and 4¼in (10.5cm) in height, came from the collection of the late Emmanuel Cooper, a well-known studio ceramicist in his own right, who also wrote extensively about contemporary ceramics and was Rie’s biographer. It was the object of a three-way battle, eclipsing its £8000-12,000 estimate to take the highest price of the sale.
Last year a record price was set for Rie at Phillips in New York at $170,000 (£133,900) for a flaring footed white porcelain bowl with inlaid blue lines (c.1978).
Sotheby’s Robin Cawdron-Stewart said: “The results seen in the saleroom reflect how these beloved British ceramicists are increasingly recognised as some of the most important, and covetable, names of the British art scene.”
Elsewhere in the auction, Grayson Perry’s Men Have Lost Their Spirits, which appeared at auction for the first time since it was acquired directly from the artist in the 1980s, sold at a premium-inclusive £52,000, ahead of its £20,000-30,000 estimate.
The sale made a premium-inclusive total of £2.48m and 90.3% of lots sold.
