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Christopher Dresser

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was a multi-talented designer of products for a wide variety of British companies.

He produced distinctive furniture designs incorporating a prescient Modernism with mass-production methods, but his creations were also linked to the Anglo-Japanesque aesthetic movement of the 1870s-80s which adds to his pioneering status.

Christopher Dresser: ‘I propose three feet formed as to serve as handles’

06 March 2023

Dr Christopher Dresser’s conical sugar bowl with three angled leg-like supports is one of the great ‘eureka’ moments in Victorian design.

Cabinet plates designed by Dresser make over five times estimate at Bonhams Skinner

09 January 2023

A set of eight Minton Aesthetic movement bone cabinet plates topped the Bonhams Skinner (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) sale of British pottery and porcelain that ran online from Marlborough, Massachusetts, in the last days of 2022.

‘Past master’ Dresser still admired today as claret jug makes 10 times estimate at Catherine Southon

05 December 2022

The Birmingham silversmithing firm of Hukin & Heath received the approval of the progressive (if slightly pompous) writers of The Furniture Gazette when it signed a big name to produce some of its designs in 1878.

Snappy Dresser rewarded at £21,000

02 May 2022

The latest design sale at Roseberys featured this Aesthetic movement silver and ivory claret or water jug designed by Christopher Dresser.

Christopher Dresser finds his time and place

27 October 2021

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) designed two electroplated claret or water jugs for Elkington & Co of Birmingham in 1885 – both of them daring designs inspired by vessels from antiquity.

Christopher Dresser jug stars in our weekly pick of five auction highlights

22 October 2021

ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Christopher Dresser electroplated jug that made 10-times estimate in Eastbourne.

Four sales prove better by design at Lyon & Turnbull

31 May 2021

Extensive cross-section of design-themed objects offered in Edinburgh and London by same auction house

Shutler discovers Dresser and Godwin rarities

17 May 2021

This prototype side chair by pioneering Victorian designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was discovered during the pandemic.

Pottery expertise provides firm foundations as works by the Martin Brothers, De Morgan and Dresser emerge

27 April 2020

Held over three pre-lockdown days on March 5-7, Evesham saleroom Kingham & Orme’s (23% buyer’s premium) auction was rich in the best of English and European decorative arts.

Rare Dresser armchair made for Art Furnishers’ Alliance makes 70-times estimate at auction

28 January 2019

This Aesthetic movement X-frame armchair took £11,000 against an estimate of just £100-150 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.

Christopher Dresser Society launches

10 June 2013

The Christopher Dresser Society will be launched at Teesside University on June 20.

De Morgan and Dresser star in double show

26 January 2008

Offered in one catalogue, British Art pottery was the main thrust of two sales held by Woolley & Wallis staged at the end of last year.

Bidding soars as Morris’s Clouds carpet comes back on the market at £78,000

27 May 2005

AFTER the mixed response to the Christopher Dresser material offered at Lyon & Turnbull (Buyers Premium 17.5%), it was left to the catalogue of decorative arts, consigned by various vendors, to provide the auctioneers with their biggest number of the day.

The genius of Dresser 100 years on

01 September 2004

THE Victoria and Albert Museum’s main autumn exhibition, opening this month, is devoted to a retrospective of Christopher Dresser, the pioneering designer who anticipated many of the major design styles of the 20th century. It is timed to coincide with the centenary of his death in 1904.

Dresser Exhibition at V&A

06 July 2004

THE work of the pioneering Victorian designer Christopher Dresser is soon to have a major public airing in an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum opening this September. In the meantime the rarest examples of his iconic designs continue to command high prices in the marketplace.

Hutchinson Scott: Fine Interiors; 16 Apr 2024 - 10:00 AM
Tennants: Antiques & Interiors; 19 Apr 2024 - 09:30 AM
Adam Partridge: Northern, Contemporary & Selected Art; 20 Apr 2024 - 10:00 AM
Mendip Auction Rooms: Fashion, Textiles, Handbags & Interiors; 23 Apr 2024 - 10:00 AM
Warrington & Northwich: Toys, Games & Transport; 23 Apr 2024 - 10:00 AM
Plakas Auctions: Islamic & Indian Works of Art; 23 Apr 2024 - 12:00 PM

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