Ceramics

Ceramics are among the most frequently collected antiques. Items made from earthernware (pottery) or porcelain (hard or soft paste) can serve functional roles such as tablewares, serving implements, vases and jugs or as ornaments, especially figures.

They usually have some form of decoration, either painted or transfer-printed, that is covered in transparent or coloured glaze. Ceramics are often catalogued by the name of their manufacturer or factory such as Meissen, Worcester, Doulton, Wedgwood and Sèvres.


img_1-1.jpg

Pick of the week: Maiolica renaissance as basin from Italian workshop makes £100,000

02 September 2019

Dealers from France and England contributed to a protracted bidding battle for a rare Renaissance maiolica dish offered at an auction house in Saxony.

img_4-2.jpg

Martinware on offer from family patron of the potters

02 September 2019

Maidenhead auction house Dawson’s is to sell a collection of Martinware on behalf of descendants of an important patron of the Southall pottery.

img_12-1.jpg

Wemyss revisited in spotlight on Scotland’s most famous pottery

02 September 2019

Edinburgh auction spotlights the current market for the wares of Scotland’s most famous pottery.

img_13-8.jpg

The Warner collection of delftware

02 September 2019

Market freshness and well-regarded primary and secondary provenances distinguish the 250-300 pieces of early English delftware to be offered for sale by Woolley & Wallis in a stand-alone auction in Salisbury on September 17.

img_14-2.jpg

Worcestershire couple make room for Meissen

02 September 2019

A collection of Meissen figures, many by Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706-75) and his assistants, met keen interest at Adam Partridge’s (20% buyer’s premium) auction.

img_16-5.jpg

On the trail of French ceramic treats

02 September 2019

A traditional feature of the ‘rentrée’ for the Paris art market in September is the Left Bank, gallery-based Parcours de la Céramique et des Arts du Feu.

img_8-2.jpg

Pick of the week: American saleroom signals the way to English creamware

26 August 2019

Some of the rarest and most desirable of all English creamware jugs were those made for the American market. One of them, titled Signals at Portland Observatory, sold for $4400/£3600 (plus premium) at the Bourgeault-Horan auction in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

img_21-2.jpg

Time travellers touch down in south London

26 August 2019

Highlights at Roseberys (25% buyer’s premium) brought more than the usual sense of trans-centuries time travel experienced at such auctions of 500 disparate lots.

img_20-1.jpg

Collector snaps up best of Charlotte Rhead

26 August 2019

‘One-of-a-kind’ tubelined charger by Staffordshire ceramicist brings £3300 on local soil.

The Cadence of Autumn De Morgan.jpg

De Morgan Foundation goes digital with new initiative to attract a wider audience for artists work

20 August 2019

The De Morgan Foundation is launching a series of initiatives to bring the works of Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919) and her husband William (1839-1917) to a wider audience.

img_10-1.jpg

Sully surfaces for a £17,000 sale

19 August 2019

Clock produced by Englishman influential in French horology impresses in Norfolk auction.

img_11-4.jpg

Thin Man spotted in sizeable lot

19 August 2019

In this group of predominantly Victorian ceramics beloware two 18th century pieces: a typical polychrome delft plate of modest value and a far more commercial early English toby jug.

img_11-5.jpg

The risqué side of Russia

19 August 2019

Although catalogued as ‘Continental’, this mid-19th century porcelain figure of a seated semi-nude ballet dancer below carries impressed marks for the factory established by the English entrepreneur Francis Gardner in the town of Verbilki near Moscow in 1766.

img_6-1.jpg

Pick of the week: Sale supplies simple bear accessory of life as Doulton Lambeth discovery found among the weeds

12 August 2019

When auctioneer Tony Pratt spotted a mysterious shape in the undergrowth of a back garden in Hythe he wasn’t expecting to uncover a very large pottery bear.

img_25-5.jpg

Bauhaus: Miscellaneous manufacturing including ceramics from Velten-Vordamm factory

05 August 2019

One of the offshoots of the Bauhaus was the ceramic factory in Velten-Vordamm, just north of Berlin. Much of the stoneware designed by the ceramic artists at the school was executed there, several examples of which came up for sale at Quittenbaum.

img_10-4.jpg

Scottish ceramics shine in Stoke

05 August 2019

Sold in the heartlands of English ceramics, this example, below, of Scotland’s finest was the estimate-shattering star of Potteries Auctions’ (20% buyer’s premium) July 13-14 sale in Stoke-on-Trent.

Wedgwood Fairyland lustre vase

Fairyland lustre still sparkles from the rostrum

29 July 2019

The market for Wedgwood ceramics may not be as bullish as it was three decades ago but this range of wares, produced from the First World War through the interwar period, continues to enjoy some of the strongest demand for the factory’s products which stretch across two and a half centuries.

img_18-1.jpg

Jug celebrates a rotten result in 1812 election

22 July 2019

Anglicised, Anglican and Tory landowners controlled many aspects of Welsh life in the Georgian period – particularly when it came to politics.

Meissen bust of Karl Albrecht, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII

Meissen bust of Holy Roman Emperor sold to Bavarian museum at Bonhams’ auction

15 July 2019

The Bavarian National Museum in Munich has purchased this sculptural bust in white Meissen porcelain of Karl Albrecht, the Elector of Bavaria and also Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII (1697-1745).

img_12-1.jpg

Wedgwood collection emerges from collector’s fairyland flat

15 July 2019

Visit by auctioneer to a regular auction-goer’s apartment uncovers Wedgwood collection.

Categories

News