Ceramics

On December 2 Australian auction firm Shapiro will be offering the collection of Spode blue and white earthenwares assembled over the past 25 years by Russell Brooks. The majority were purchased in first 15 years mainly in England but also in Australia.

Records were set for studio pottery when the collection of the late New York art dealer Dr John P Driscoll was sold last week.

Pictured here are two early English pottery tankards – both of them documentary pieces.

Among the best-performing lots at the Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium) Ceramics & Glass sale was a rare Wedgwood black basalt seal.

Dessert plate taken to St Helena exile by Napoleon demonstrates provenance value

Metz auction house will feature plenty of pieces of Meissen among the ceramics in its sale to be held in Heidelberg from December 9-11.

While the kilns at Sèvres languished during the Revolution, Napoleon recognised the value of a national porcelain factory and used it as an extension of his power.

At a recent sale at Stamford Auction Rooms (20% buyer’s premium) in Lincolnshire this pair of mid-19th century Staffordshire red squirrels sold for a surprise £2000.

This KPM porcelain plaque will feature in Woody Auction’s next sale in Kansas on December 4.

A Bamfords (20% buyer’s premium) sale included this 3¼in (34cm) tall Chelsea figure from the Red Anchor Senses set created by the Low Countries sculptor Joseph Willems (1710-66), in c.1755.

Estimated at £200-300 in the belief they were later copies, a pair of Sèvres dishes sold for £9500 at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium).

Estimated at £400-600, a Meissen chinoiserie decorated porcelain snuff box took £12,000 at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in West Sussex.

British porcelain element of renowned US collection amassed in European salerooms comes to auction in London

William De Morgan considered pieces from the Moonlight and Sunset Suite made in the early 1890s to be his very best work.

A pair of early 19th century Staffordshire pearlware figures modelled after bare-knuckle boxers Tom Cribb and Tom Molineaux who fought for a ‘world title’ of sorts is estimated at £3000-5000 in Tennants’ Autumn Fine Sale on November 13 in Leyburn.

After the James Macintyre & Co factory was awarded a gold medal at the St Louis International Exhibition in 1904, Moorcroft pottery was sold in the US by a number of boutique retailers including Shreve & Co of San Francisco and Tiffany in New York.

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

This earthenware charger was painted by Catherine Sparkes (1842-1910), a genre, flower painter and illustrator who made a significant contribution to the development of faience pottery at Doulton Lambeth.

It is with great sadness that I was informed of the sudden death of my good friend and colleague in the trade Roger de Ville… thankfully he was at home and he passed away quickly at the amazing age of 86 years old.

It was not to high-end purist tastes, but ballet pioneer’s collection reeled in eager bidders