It was ranked top among hundreds of entries from artisans from 36 countries working in a variety of media.
British designer Jonathan Anderson, creative director of the Spanish fashion house Loewe, helped found the prize two years ago in the belief that the digital age will bring a backlash in much the same way that industrialisation prompted the late 19th century craft revival.
The record for Lee was bettered twice at the Made in Britain sale conducted by Sotheby’s on September 18. Her 9½in (23.5cm) stoneware vase titled Spangled, Amber, Coral and Speckled Bands had been acquired by the owner at the Galerie Besson, Christmas exhibition in 1988. Estimated at £10,000-15,000, it sold at £26,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) bettering by some distance the £13,000 (plus premium) bid at Mallams Oxford in December 2016 for Lee’s Pale Pot, Speckled Emerging Rim from 1997.
Also improving on this previous record sum was Dark, Four Lichen Speckled Stripes – a shallow 14½in (37cm) diameter bowl that was made on camera for a biopic about Lee produced by her husband Jake Tilson in 1990.
Jennifer Lee’s 'Dark, Four Lichen Speckled Stripes' sold at Sotheby’s on September 18 at £17,000.
Sold at a Galerie Besson show later that year, it had been offered at auction twice before: at Christie’s in 1998 (when Lee’s pots were £200-300 each) and again at Phillips in London in April 2012 where it was acquired by the present owner significantly under estimate at £1400. It sold at £17,000.
