One of the most fashionable names at present is Caughley and at Hungerford three such offerings went into four figures, a pair of ‘Low Chelsea’ ewers at £1050; a rare Caughley/Coalport Tower pattern spoon tray at £1200 and, top seller of the sale, a rare Caughley bowl probably painted by Fidelle Duvivier.
Showing figures in wooded landscapes, within a brown and gilt entwined leaf scroll and ribbon band, the c.1790 81/4in (21cm) bowl suffered a minor rim chip but sold to a private buyer just above estimate at £1850.
Mark Law has noted the rise and rise of Caughley but added the cautionary opinion that estimates have to be sensible for ordinary pieces to sell – vendors must have something rare and special to justify over-heated hopes.
With more than 1000 lots, mostly illustrated, attracting keen interest from America and Europe as well as Britain, the catalogue and price list offers a good snapshot of the affordable ceramics scene, but here it is only possible to mention the higher sellers from different factories.
Best of the Oriental pieces was an 81/4in (21cm) c.1745 Chinese Export blue and white armorial dish. It was possibly made for a French official serving in India and sold to a French buyer at £1200. The top seller from Europe was a pair of c.1890 Carl Thieme two-handled ogee-shaped vases and covers. Enamelled with figures in a wooded landscape, the 233/4in (60cm) vases were a London trade buy at £1050.
Most of the English factories were represented in the upper price reaches. Staffordshire was led by a pair of c.1860, 61/4in (16cm) seated spaniels and Rockingham by a 2in (5cm) seated cat.
The ever-popular spaniels had some minor chips but sold to the trade at a double-estimate £1050, while the cat, a rare subject for Rockingham but certainly a genuine piece, took £1600 from a collector.
A rare c.1770 oval sauceboat with chinoiserie decoration from the short-lived Plymouth factory took £1150 from a collector from the West Country where the subject is very popular and another private buy at an above-estimate £1400 was a Minton coffee cup and sauce decorated with classical figure in pâte-sur-pâte by Alboine Birks.
From Derby came a c.1780, 6in (15cm) group Three Figures Learning Music, which had some old restoration but took a double estimate £1150 from the trade, and a London dealer took a rare 41/4in (11cm) Chelsea ‘Goat and Bee’ biscuit jug, c.1746-48, at £1950.
Law Fine Art Hungerford
September 24-25
Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent
Caughley tops the 1000 ceramics
THAT the Berkshire auctioneers Law Fine Art could garner more than 1000 lots, sell more than 70 per cent of them and reach a total of £160,0000 for this latest of their thrice-yearly ceramics and glass sales says as much about Mark Law’s and Nicholas Lyne’s operation as it does for the general strength of ceramics in these generally difficult times.
