Ceramics

Ceramics are among the most frequently collected antiques. Items made from earthernware (pottery) or porcelain (hard or soft paste) can serve functional roles such as tablewares, serving implements, vases and jugs or as ornaments, especially figures.

They usually have some form of decoration, either painted or transfer-printed, that is covered in transparent or coloured glaze. Ceramics are often catalogued by the name of their manufacturer or factory such as Meissen, Worcester, Doulton, Wedgwood and Sèvres.


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Cornish studio pottery from renowned dealer brings demand at Lay's

06 March 2026

The latest sale of Cornish Art, Fine Art & Studio Pottery at Lay’s (21% buyer’s premium) in Penzance featured 85 lots from the personal art collection of Michael Hunt.

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Chinese makers got their skates on to take advantage of porcelain export market

06 March 2026

Among the most desirable of the Chinese export porcelain patterns made for the Dutch market is the so-called ‘skating lesson’ design.

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Focus on the 'first wave' of modern Japanese ceramicists at Asia Week New York

06 March 2026

Joan B Mirviss uses Asia Week New York to launch its spring exhibition Six Celestials, featuring works by modern artists who laid the groundwork for contemporary Japanese clay work.

Clare Durham

Date of first ceramics sale in Devizes is set

27 February 2026

A new sale for the ceramics and glass department at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes is coming soon.

PC Webb with antiques dealer Paul Gostelow

Lovejoy episode helps reunite stolen Napoleon altar plaques missing for 12 years

25 February 2026

A 30-year-old episode of the BBC show Lovejoy helped an antiques dealer return two stolen Napoleon Bonaparte III altar plaques that had been taken in 2014 to their former home.

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Harry Davis designs for Royal Worcester bear up well at auctions

20 February 2026

Of all the many subjects painted by Harry Davis (1885-1970) during his long and celebrated tenure at the Royal Worcester factory, among the rarest and most desirable are polar bears in an Arctic landscape.

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Ceramic Highlander was made in the Lowlands

20 February 2026

From the 1770s Portobello was one of the main centres of industrial ceramic production in Scotland.

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My search to identify a mystery Staffordshire figure

20 February 2026

Collector’s diligence and resolve pay off as he tracks down the crucial evidence

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‘Mum went out to buy a coat but got a Lambeth delft candlestick instead’

20 February 2026

Dealer from a Cotswolds family business acquired English tin glazed earthenware as a personal interest

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Focus on a formidable character

20 February 2026

A look at recent book releases, including a work bringing to life Pilkington’s company driving force William Burton

Meissen plate

Meissen with a Delft touch emerges in Nottingham

13 February 2026

This Meissen plate painted with a view of Delft was among the contents of Lamb Close House sold by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham on February 11.

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Royal Doulton figures add touch of character from the 1920s

13 February 2026

Although he chose to work as a freelancer from a small home studio in Luton, Leslie Harradine (1887-1965) provided a regular supply of figures to Royal Doulton for almost 40 years.

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Sèvres plate too expensive for a French king comes to auction in Germany

06 February 2026

Sèvres had high hopes of royal approval and purchase but the Service des Départements was rejected

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Price and estimate for liner china oceans apart

06 February 2026

Liner china – ceramics associated with shipping lines and the golden age of maritime travel – can occasionally throw up surprising results.

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Iznik dish set to bloom in Stuttgart

06 February 2026

A late 16th century Iznik pottery dish will surely attract bids at Nagel’s sale titled Six Continents in Stuttgart on February 25.

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Dedicated Nelson sale: Bidding farewell to a naval hero

06 February 2026

Special sale focuses on the death of Nelson, the first commoner given a state funeral

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Van Vianen silver plaquette surfaces in London saleroom

30 January 2026

London numismatic auction house Morton & Eden is offering a silver plaquette by the great Dutch silversmith Paulus van Vianen (1570-1613).

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Dynamic duo brought daring Art Nouveau to Rozenburg

30 January 2026

The Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg (Royal Delftware Factory) was established in The Hague in 1883 in the hope of making blue and white tin-glazed earthenwares.

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Sweet selection on offer for the third time in Somerset saleroom

30 January 2026

Following equivalent sales in November 2024 and May 2025, Dore & Rees (25% buyer’s premium) in Frome was again offering Japanese objects at the end of last year from the wider collection of Asian works of art formed over more than half a century by Eva and Aubrey Sweet.

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Staying ice-cool in the White City with an extraordinary Japanese vase

30 January 2026

Vase is thought to be from a group that share a provenance to the 1908 Japan-British Exhibition

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