Ceramics

The highlight of a dedicated ceramics sale held at Drouot by Fraysse (22.17% buyer’s premium) was this large 16 x 22in (41 x 56cm) early French, Moustiers, faience basin made at the Clerissy factory.

While dedicated sales of English and Continental ceramics are rarer beasts in the saleroom calendar these days, the traditional mixed-discipline regional sales are a repository for plenty of material from the main factories of the 18th and 19th centuries.

A pair of Worcester dishes of so-called ‘Blind Earl’ form was a best-seller in the ceramics section that opened Dreweatts’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) spring sale.

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s no longer hold regular dedicated auctions of European ceramics, they still cater for elements of this market in their main centres worldwide via series of mixed-discipline traditional decorative arts auctions.

In today’s world when employment fluidity is the norm, it is rare to find someone who had been in the same job and place all their working life. But when he hung up his hat last week from his role as international director of glass and British ceramics at Bonhams, John Sandon had clocked up almost 44 years, man and boy, in the same saddle.

Opening the antique ceramics section of Lawrences’ (25% buyer’s premium) four-day sale in Crewkerne was the William Farrar Jackson collection of commemorative English pottery.

Keys’ fine sale on July 24-26 will include more examples of porcelain from the local Lowestoft factory.

The latest version of Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) Collector sale in New York featured an interesting collection of equine pottery: an ensemble of 10 large-scale English pearl ware horses, the majority made in the Leeds pottery in the first half of the 19th century.

It is thought that the prestigious Meissen designer Johann Joachim Kaendler drew the inspiration for his teapot in the form of a reclining cockerel from a Chinese model he found in the royal collection in Dresden.

Modern British ceramics are rarely offered by German auction houses. Among the notable exceptions is the Kunst & Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski, based in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Dr Stewart Abbott is partner at S&J Abbott Ceramics Plus, which is among the exhibitors at the upcoming Petworth Park Antiques and Fine Art Fair.

English and Continental porcelain from several notable estates is included in Stair Galleries’ next fine sale in Hudson, New York, on April 27-28.

Pook & Pook’s next American and International sale in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, on May 4 will feature a selection of Chinese export porcelain.

Lyon & Turnbull’s (25% buyer’s premium) inaugural Modern Made auction at the Mall Galleries in London received plenty of encouraging noises from the dealing and collecting community as it posted a total of £1m (including premium).

The recent Modern Living sale at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) was dominated by ‘Mouseman’ furniture, something of a speciality at the Leyburn rooms.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

The story of Queen Anne, who ruled from 1702 to her death in 1714, is now much more widely known after the Oscar-winning portrayal by Olivia Colman in 'The Favourite'.

MADAM – I write in response to the letter by Simon Butt (ATG No 2386) titled 'Mystery Napoleon link' and requesting information on a soft paste pot pourri depicting Longwood House.

A Rosenthal porcelain model of the princess and the frog, c.1910, by Leo Rauth is among the objects on offer at The Cotswolds Decorative Antiques & Art Fair.

A Hutschenreuther Porcelain mocca set decorated with silver overlay in the studios of Friedrich Spahr is among the works on offer at The Duncombe Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair where it is available from John Newton Antiques for £1050.