Delftware

Graham Slater’s collection that packed a Cambridge house provided 670 lots over two auctions

Graham Slater (1927-2024) was fascinated by relics of Stuart and Georgian Britain. His wife Rosemary shared his passions, including his love of mudlarking, exploring the banks of the Thames for fragments washed up by each new tide.

Two English Delftware plates, described on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow a decade ago as “as rare as you can get”, went under the hammer at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) on February 5.

Generating a huge amount of international media coverage both before and after Reeman Dansie’s (25% buyer’s premium) November 5 sale titled Royalty, Antiques & Fine Art was a piece of fruitcake from the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Prince Philip of Greece on November 20, 1947.

Depictions of birdcages on Delft tile-pictures or plaques are not exactly common, but they are not nearly as rare as actual ceramic cages from the Dutch manufacture.

The Irish peer, statesman and soldier James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745), first rose to prominence after helping put down the Monmouth Rebellion.

A rare 16th century tin-glazed earthenware charger was the subject of an extraordinary bidding battle taking it to 130-times its estimate.

This 12in (30.5cm) diameter Dutch delft bowl was a high-flyer at Rob Michiels (30% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Bruges.

Dated and inscribed and royal portrait subjects are the most desirable classes of early delftware

A broad mix of English and Continental pottery and porcelain was on offer in the latest dedicated ceramics sale held by Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury, a fair slice of it contributed by single-owner collections.

US collector Bud Lear teamed up with UK metalwork dealer Christopher Bangs to investigate early types of metal candlesticks

Found at a flea market, this tin-glazed earthenware mug sold for £12,000 (plus 19.5% buyer’s premium) at Claydon Auctioneers.

More than 80 lots of early English and Dutch delftware are included in the collection of scholar, collector and author Margaret Berwind Schiffer to be offered on January 18 by Pook & Pook in Pennsylvania.

Both categories are particularly notable as Mark and Marjorie Allen lots sell in Pennsylvania

An English delft drug jar offered by Great Western Auctions (24% buyer’s premium) in Glasgow was both a polychrome and a documentary piece.

Pook & Pook of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, is to offer works from the estate of Mark and Marjorie Allen, antiques dealers from New Hampshire, over two days on June 30 and July 1.

Isle of Wight antiques dealer Kevin Morris specialises in pottery including early English delftware and Italian maiolica.

Teapots made in delftware were never particularly functional nor popular in either England or the Netherlands.