Ceramics

A record-breaking Song dynasty bowl at Sotheby’s. A working ceramics factory at Tate Modern. A new book on Wedgwood. Porcelain and ceramics are much in the news at the moment.

A 130-lot collection of studio pottery, featuring many of the best-known British names in the field, both past and present, was the focus of Cottone’s (18% buyer’s premium) sale of the estate of Annette McGuire Cravens in Geneseo, New York on September 22.

Documentary pieces of early English porcelain always command a premium.

Perhaps the rarest of all Beswick’s output is the pit pony figure Spirit of Whitfield.

Auctioneer hails return to form for Swansea and Nantgarw porcelain at Cardiff themed sale...

The second Royal Doulton figure to buck the generally lukewarm market within a fortnight, a 'Double Jester' figure designed by Charles Noke, was the star of a 1000-lot collectables sale at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) at Haslemere on September 7.

Catalogued as early English, this slipware dish above had all the qualities of the combed decoration earthenware baking, or loaf, dishes produced in the late 18th to early 19th century and took the top price at Mitchells (20% buyers premium) of Cockermouth.

Found by a dog walker in a roadside skip, this remarkably intact Victorian majolica teapot found the ideal bidder at Brighton General Auctions (15% buyer’s premium).

It is well-known that the market for Royal Doulton HN series figures is at something of a low ebb. However, the exception to the general rule of bargain-basement prices comes for the small number of very rare figures that appeal to a core collecting base. Many end up in North America.

The Parcours de la Céramique has become a well-established feature of the Paris rentrée.

So much more successful than their 18th century forebears, today’s Jacobites go from strength to strength.

Cristina Ortega is a specialist in Chinese and Japanese ceramics with a gallery in the rue de Beaune. Now taking part in her eighth Parcours de la Céramique, she remains very enthusiastic about the possibilities…

Tentatively catalogued as ‘18th-19th century German, possibly Meissen’, a porcelain figure of the Quack Doctor from the Cryes of London series was the surprise tonic at Reeman Dansie’s (20% buyer’s premium) August 1 Colchester sale.

MADAM – Regarding ATG’s coverage of the threat of closure to the Poole Pottery Studio (ATG No 2304 and antiquestradegazette.com), I feel it is imperative that some element of the production stays in Poole.

The surprise package of Sworders’ (22% buyer’s premium) Homes and Interiors sale of August 1 was an early buff stoneware jug of a type commonly associated with the potteries of Fulham and Vauxhall.

Collectors of works by the Rhead family of potters will no doubt have September 5 already marked in their diaries.