Decorative Art

Two November sales underlined the current strength of the field of British studio pottery.

Specialist Philip Smith, head of the 20th Century & Modern British Art departments at the London outlet of Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium), believes studio ceramics should be classed as art.

A vase by the great cameo glass artist George Woodall (1850-1925) was offered at auction for the first time at Bonhams’ sale of Fine Glass and British Ceramics last week.

A pair of George III covered serving dishes made in London 1819 by Philip Rundell sold from the stand of Mary Cooke Antiques during the latest edition of the Winter Art & Antiques Fair in Olympia.

A small Worcester mug painted with a rare blue and white pattern, c.1752-53, was among the stand-out sales during Jupiter Antiques’ latest exhibition, where it was offered for a price in the region of £4000.

Tile formerly in the huge Baudry collection is one of the London gallery show highlights

Differing echoes of the First World War attracted bidders at Dominic Winter’s (20% buyer’s premium) Cirencester auction in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

A more recent purchase for the Starrs was this late-18th century, 10¼in (26cm) high, black basalt two handled amphora, from the section of encaustic-decorated wares that were inspired by classical attic vases.

The most expensive piece in Sotheby’s Arnhold sale was a lot that made a dramatic increase on its $4000-6000 estimate. This 7½in (19.5cm) diameter blue and white saucer dish (below) was an early example of blue and white Meissen from c.1721-22 that had Japanese Palace inventory marks.

High selling rates at two American salerooms show how the market can absorb traditional ceramics in volume when estimates are realistic

Another of the highest prices in the Stair Galleries’ sale of a New York ceramics collection came for this Staffordshire rarity.

Early-18th century porcelain scent bottles from Chelsea and the St James’s factory have been the object of increasing interest and value in recent years. Some high-flying examples emerged in the sales in New York.

An impressive piece of neoclassical silver gilt with an impressive provenance, this George III trophy was consigned to Gerrards (18% buyer’s premium) by a vendor whose great-grandmother had apparently been given it ‘by royalty’.

Plenty of affordable Wedgwood from all eras was available in the Stair sale.

After their intitial interest in Wedgwood, the Starrs went on to collect other examples of early English porcelain, some of which was keenly pursued in Sotheby’s sale.

An impressive 23in (58cm) tall Sèvres vase offered by Shropshire auction house Trevanion & Dean (20% buyer’s premium) had a lot going for it historically but a considerable amount of condition problems.

The Starrs collection at Sotheby’s featured 25 reticulated vases or decorative objects produced by George Owen for Royal Worcester, most them purchased at auction in the early 1980s.

The large collection of predominantly English ceramics offered by Stair Galleries from a New York collector included examples of 18th century porcelain from many of the major English factories.

After training in Düsseldorf and Paris, where he had met Rodin and Maillol, both of whom had a major influence on his work, the German sculptor, painter and architect Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1949) joined the artists’ colony in Darmstadt in 1911.