English dripware pottery covered biscuit jar, 1930s
Price: £20
This is an unusual pottery biscuit jar, with metal mount, handle and cover, marked on the bottom S Made in England S. This might indicate Staffordshire as the region
LOT 19
Pair of Oriental Style green glazed Sylvac Jars and Covers, circa 1960
Estimate: £60 – 80
12d 7h 16m
£0.00
A Poole Pottery Atlantis Vase by Jenny Haigh, 1970s
Price: £55
A Poole Pottery stoneware Vase of broad ovoid form with a small concave neck the terracotta body decorated in high relief with a semi naturalistic design, part glazed in brown and part unglazed brown, the base with impressed marks 'A 18' 'JH' 'POOLE ENGLAND', the interior also glazed in brown. This piece comes from the 'Atlantis' range produced by a variety of artists including Jennny Haigh for Poole during the 1970s under the overall direction of Guy Sydenham. The designs, while in a certain style were individual and do not necessarily seem to repeat. Certainly there is no direct parallel to the example we have here. Examples of these wares are becoming increasingly hard to find and this is an excellent variant of the range. Dating for these pieces is usually to the early to mid 1970s, the earliest being produced in 1969.
A Set of Six Blue and White Willow Pattern Coasters English Ironstone 1980s
Price: £30
A set of six Ironstone china coasters, decorated in the traditional 'Willow Pattern' with a typical Chinese landscape scene. Ironstone china is a type of vitreous pottery first made in the United Kingdom in the 19th century by potters in Staffordshire, England, as a cheaper, mass-produced alternative for porcelain. It is often associated with the firm founded by Mason in 1813 following his registration of a patent for the ware. Subsequently others manufactured it as well including William Turner and Josiah Spode. Essentially a product of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there was a revival of interest in these traditional wares from the 1970s onwards and one of the manufacturers was the 'English Ironstone Tableware Ltd' which traded from 1973 to 1994 when it went into receivership. Their impressed mark can be seen on the back.
These coasters formed part of their range. The decoration employs the transfer pattern technique developed in England in the mid eighteenth century and a staple of nineteenth century productions. Printed designs were 'transferred' to the ceramic surface allowing the production of extensive services in a matching pattern. The Chinese derived 'Willow Pattern' design seems to have been first used around 1790 and was probably designed by Thomas Minton for Spode. All the versions contain similar elements besides the pagodas and landscape scenes most notably the three figures on a bridge and a pair of flying swallows. In order to promote sales, various stories were invented based on elements of the design. These coasters are an amusing recollection of times past and highly practical in addition.
Fairing Figurine - The last in bed to put out the light, German, late Nineteenth Century
Price: £25
Fairing Figurine "The last in bed to put out the light". 'Fairings', as they are known, were ceramic figures made to be given out, sold or won as prizes at fairs, hence the name. They were a product of the late Victorian era but continued to be made until the beginning of the First World War when they fell out of fashion. Manufacture was in Germany principally by the firm Conta and Boehme who developed a mass production method that no other company could match, thereby achieving a market advantage. They exported large quantities to Britain and the United States, but their pieces have even been found in Australia along with other destinations.
The various figures were made in white glazed porcelain with coloured decoration. The compositions were sculptural and often accompanied by an inscription, as here. Many models are known. Two typical examples are 'Returning from the Ball' and 'Twelve Months after Marriage' but the most common example is represented here 'The last in bed to put out the light'. A couple are seen climbing into a covered bed at the foot of which stands a candle in a holder. These candles are usually broken off, most likely because of simple damage over the years but it has been suggested that this was done deliberately for good luck.
Some of the fairing figurines are marked, as here. The impressed number '2851' comes from the first series of figures produced by the Conta factory with numbers ranging from 2850 to 2899. The earlier examples do not have the shield mark found on most of the pieces which indicates an earlier dating here, more towards the middle of the nineteenth century.
Fairings have been collectors' items for many years now and still hold a naif charm which makes them appealing display items, with a history of their own.
Fairing Figurine - The last in bed to put out the light, German, early Twentieth Century
Price: £25
Fairing Figurine "The last in bed to put out the light". 'Fairings', as they are known, were ceramic figures made to be given out, sold or won as prizes at fairs, hence the name. They were a product of the late Victorian era but continued to be made until the beginning of the First World War when they fell out of fashion. Manufacture was in Germany principally by the firm Conta and Boehme who developed a mass production method that no other company could match, thereby achieving a market advantage. They exported large quantities to Britain and the United States, but their pieces have even been found in Australia along with other destinations.
The various figures were made in white glazed porcelain with coloured decoration. The compositions were sculptural and often accompanied by an inscription, as here. Many models are known. Two typical examples are 'Returning from the Ball' and 'Twelve Months after Marriage' but the most common example is represented here 'The last in bed to put out the light'. A couple are seen climbing into a covered bed at the foot of which stands a candle in a holder. These candles are usually broken off, most likely because of simple damage over the years but it has been suggested that this was done deliberately for good luck.
Some of the fairing figurines are marked, as here. In comparison with the previous Lot 4, this example has a glazed circular mark which reads 'Made in Germany'. These marks appear on the later productions of the Conta factory and indicate a dating here to shortly before the First World War. This is consistent with the rather 'brassy' looking gilding used which is typical of ceramic production generally post 1900.
It is interesting to compare Lots 4 and 5 and to see how consistent the manufacture was throughout the period. Only the glazed base with its circular mark and the type of gilt decoration separate this example from its earlier companion.
Fairings have been collectors' items for many years now and still hold a naif charm which makes them appealing display items, with a history of their own.
LOT 18
Royal Doulton bottle form Vase decorated with flowering lotus, early 20th Century
Estimate: £40 – 60
12d 7h 14m
£0.00
Pair of Alhambrian Ware English Majolica Vases with raised decoration circa 1880
Price: £30
Pair of English Alhambrian Ware Majolica Vases of ovoid form with moulded bases and a short flaring neck, decorated in multicoloured glazes, mainly ochre and blue, in imitation of continental 'majolica' wares, the body and neck with a modelled basket work design in mustard brown set with raised panels of flower heads, the base and top rim finished in a blue glaze with the mustard brown glaze repeated on the interior. The foot rim unglazed with a cream glaze to the centre with a stamped or transfer mark in iron red which reads 'Alhambrian'. Alhambrian marked wares were produced by one of the Staffordshire potteries between 1880 and 1910, reflecting the craze for Majolica glazed wares produced by Minton and others. The pieces are very modest imitations but quite decorative in their own right. The form here was quite commonly produced and no doubt intended as a mantel piece ornament.
Bisque Scottish boy character doll c. 1900
Price: £60
This is a very sweet souvenir doll comprising a young Scottish boy in tradition dress with a bisque head, hands and feet and a fabric body. With traditional Scottish garb. Made in Germany.
Set of 6 small Art Deco style plates by C.T. Altwasser, Silesia, 1920s/1930s
Price: £75
A set of six porcelain plates, Art Deco style, with fluted edges and a modelled design of four overlapping leaves and basket weave, glazed in shades of green and mustard yellow, the rims gilt and the bases with a transfer mark in blue of an eagle above the initials CT.
Carl Tielsch founded the Altwasser factory in 1845. It swiftly became second largest porcelain factory in Silesia, a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. After twenty years the factory employeed 1,400 employees. Products of the Tielsch factory quickly became known for their high quality and artistry even being compared to Berlin or Meissen porcelains and seem to have continued to be manufactured until the 1950s, the later pieces being marked first ‘Germany’ then ‘Poland’. The mark here, an eagle above the initials CT, was used from 1875 to 1935 but the style of decoration, which shows the influence of Art Deco pieces, indicates a dating to the 1920s or 1930s. Probably intended as side plates, this set is rather unusual amongst the Altwasser pieces found today and highly attractive.
Pair of bisque relief plaques by artist Bertel Thorvaldsen. Royal Copenhagen 1969 - 74
Price: £40
This is a stunning pair of bisque porcelain plaques depicting two well known images of Bertel Thorvaldsen's Four Seasons series. Here are Autumn and Winter. This series was produced by Royal Copenhagen Porcelain between 1969 - 74. They are drilled for hanging.
Bertel Thorvaldsen (born Nov. 19, 1770, or Nov. 13, 1768, Copenhagen, Den.—died March 24, 1844, Copenhagen), sculptor, prominent in the Neoclassical period, who was the first internationally acclaimed Danish artist. Prominent in Roman intellectual and artistic circles, he influenced many emerging artists from Europe and the United States. Most of Thorvaldsen’s most characteristic sculptures are reinterpretations of the figures or themes of classical antiquity. The Alexander frieze of 1812 in the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, modeled in only three months in anticipation of a visit by Napoleon, is an example of the feverish energy with which he could at times work. Religious sculptures include the colossal series of statues of Christ and the Twelve Apostles (1821–27) in the Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. He also made numerous portrait busts of distinguished contemporaries.
Shelley Harmony Ware Drip Glaze Watercress Bowl and Stand, 1930s
Price: £55
A ceramic shallow bowl, pierced with holes to the centre and with three short feet and a matching dish or underplate, both decorated with various shades of green, brown, grey and light blue with ‘drip glaze’ effects, the bases glazed and the bowl with a transfer mark ‘Shelley England’, the mark on the plate blurred and indistinct. Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was originally known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded under the name ‘The Foley Potteries’. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862, and it remained a Shelley family business until 1966, when it was taken over by Allied English Potteries. Josph’s son Percy employed first the designer Frederick Rhead then Walter Slater who had worked with Doulton. It was Walter Slater’s son, Eric, who initiated the ‘Harmony’ range in 1932, at first with a series of banded designs, and then with ‘drip ware’ patterns, an effect which he discovered by accident, which became enormously popular such that around twenty five painters were employed in their decoration. Besides vases, various items of tableware were produced in this style and these two pieces comprise a drainer bowl and stand, most likely for watercress or salad, following earlier English and Chinese designs, but possibly for fruit or berries. This ensemble is less commonly found but remains both decorative and practical.
Set of 14 Delft Amsterdam houses on fitted shelf
Price: £80
This is a wonderful set of Delft ceramic houses modelled after buildings in Amsterdam, they are bottles that had some sort of liquor in them at some point. These come with a shelf especially designed to showcase these lovely collectibles.
Flash Lustre Glaze Futurist Cruet Set 1960s
Price: £20
This is a wonderful cruet set with salt and pepper and a condiment dish with spoon. Marked with a Crown V mark.
Clarice Cliff Celtic Harvest Centrepiece Bowl, marked, 1930s
Price: £35
A ceramic bowl with a bulbous, squat body and three ball like feet, the body with moulded decoration of wheat sheaves and fruit in brightly coloured enamels on a beige raffia style background, the rim with a chrome metal band, the base with transfer marks ‘Celtic Harvest’, ‘Clarice Cliff’ ‘Newport Pottery Co’ ‘England’.
Born in 1899, Clarice Cliff began with a varied career in apprentice roles in the North Staffordshire Potteries, at that time the major employers in the area of women. At the age of 17, she was working with the firm A.J.Wilkinson, owned by the Shorter family, and some of her designs began to appear in their pattern books soon after. In the late 1920s, she experimented with novel and bold designs termed ‘Bizarre Ware’ which met with unexpected success, much to the surprise of Wilkinson’s salesmen. A wide range of pieces in the style was then produced and named ‘Handpainted Bizarre’ by the managing director of Wilkinson’s, Colley Shorter. The ‘Crocus’ and ‘Conical’ ranges then followed and in 1930 Cliff was made Art Director of the firm, soon to be supervising a workforce of up to 1000 at the Newport Pottery. In 1940, she married Colley Shorter, after the death of his first wife, and her career came to an end, decorated pottery being prohibited during the second world war. Shorter died in 1963 and the following year Cliff sold the business to Midwinter Pottery. A recluse for many years, she died in 1972.
The ’Celtic Harvest’ range was typical of her work and comprised a wide variety of serving pieces all decorated in the same style. This Centrepiece bowl was probably intended for fruit and like all the other examples is fitted with a chrome metal rim. Dating is most likely to the 1930s.
Pair of Royal Dux Secessionist Style Vases, 1930s
Price: £250
A pair of ceramic vases of semi organic form, the body tapering towards the long slightly flaring neck and the sides with four applied loop handles, decorated with stylized floral designs on a grey/beige mottled ground, the base glazed and with a transfer mark of an acorn in a triangle with the letters ‘D’ ‘P’ ‘M’ and impressed numbers ‘11330’.
These vases form part of a group of ceramic items manufactured by a wide number of factories in the early C20th, including Mintons of England, and heavily influenced by the ‘Secessionist’ movement, in which contemporary artists deliberately broke away from traditional styles, which began in Austria in the late nineteenth century and soon spread to Germany and France. The organic forms of the Art Nouveau movement were a strong influence and can be seen here.
Duxer Porzellanmanufaktur, or the Dux Porcelain Manufactory, was started in 1860 by Eduard Eichler in what was then Duchov, Bohemia, later to become part of Czechoslovakia. Production continued until the beginning of the second world war and beyond. The factory started to imitate designs by Copenhagen, Worcester and Sevrés and their pieces achieved great popularity culminating in the company being rewarded with the Grand Prix prize at the world exhibition in St. Louis in 1904. Their output is now now generally referred to by the abbreviated name, ‘Royal Dux’. Some of their pieces were made in the ‘Secessionist’ style, with emphasis on organic forms, as here. There is a wide variety of Royal Dux marks and the one on these vases, an acorn in a triangle (the letters ‘D’, ‘P’, ‘M’ standing for “Duxer Porzellan-Manufaktur”) , indicates a dating after 1918 suggesting that they were made in the 1920s or 1930s but almost certainly before the beginning of the second world war.
Rare Ditmar Urbach Art Deco Pitcher, Czech 1930s
Price: £250
The Ditmar Brothers and the Urbach Brothers had merged what was left of their ceramics companies in 1910. Their primary facility was located in Teplitz-Turn, Czechoslovakia. From 1919 to 1938, they operated as Ditmar-Urbach A.G. and produced a large volume of decorative and functional ceramics, many employing forms and decoration typical of the Art Deco style. The form of this vase is unusual, being a double lipped pitcher with a loop handle, and the decoration employs zig zag, almost mountainous, designs in orange, yellow, purple and blue, which can also be found on other pieces from the factory and are typical of the styles of the era. The base is clearly marked ‘Ditmar Urbach’ ‘Made in Czechoslovakia’ which is not the case with all of the pieces made by the firm.
Cylindrical Vase, Herman Kähler, HAK, blue glazed stoneware, 1950s
Price: £250
A stoneware vase glazed in blue of upright cylindrical form, the base and neck concave with two ribbed bands, the foot unglazed and showing traces of the potting rings with incised marks ‘HAK’ and 22-118. Herman August Kähler was a Danish ceramic designer and manufacturer who ran the Kähler ceramic factory (Kählers Keramiske Værksted) in Næstved, Denmark which he took over from his Father with his brother in 1872, then running it himself from 1875 when he built a new factory on the town’s outskirts. Kähler was responsible for the introduction of a ruby red glaze which soon became extremely popular and the factory began to produce many well formed decorative pieces which enjoyed a wide reception and were exhibited at the Great Nordic Exhibition held in Copenhagen in 1888 and at the Exposition Universelle held the following year in Paris. Kähler died in 1917 but the firm continued, at first under the direction of his son Herman Hans Christian Kähler.
This vase was designed by Herman Kähler’s grandson Nils Kähler who took over the business with his brother in 1940. Nils Kähler had a special talent for following the design trends of the time. Even though he was enthusiastic himself about traditional wares, the new production was characterized by much simpler designs. He made designer objects such as ashtrays, vases, jugs and lamp bases for Le Klint lamps. Made of stoneware, these bases were fired in his preferred salt glaze or with the strong turquoise or warm golden colors. This vase, then, is a typical example of his work and probably dates to the 1950s.
Shelley Harmony Ware Vase glazed in blue, 1930s
Price: £85
A ceramic vase of plain ovoid form, the body slightly ribbed and painted with various shades of ‘spun’ decoration in blue, the base glazed and with a transfer mark ‘Shelley England’ and the impressed numbers ‘979’ presumably denoting the model number. Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was originally known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded under the name ‘The Foley Potteries’. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862, and it remained a Shelley family business until 1966, when it was taken over by Allied English Potteries. Josph’s son Percy employed first the designer Frederick Rhead then Walter Slater who had worked with Doulton. It was Walter Slater’s son, Eric, who initiated the ‘Harmony’ range in 1932, at first with a series of banded designs as here and then with drip ware patterns which became enormously popular. Harmony ware was produced in a wide variety of colours and this auction includes three vases which well reflect the range.
Shelley Harmony Ware Drip Glaze Vase, 1930s
Price: £85
A ceramic vase of plain ovoid form, the body slightly ribbed and painted with various shades of green, brown and light blue with ‘drip glaze’ effects, the base glazed and with a transfer mark ‘Shelley England’ and the impressed numbers ‘985’ presumably denoting the model number. Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was originally known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded under the name ‘The Foley Potteries’. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862, and it remained a Shelley family business until 1966, when it was taken over by Allied English Potteries. Josph’s son Percy employed first the designer Frederick Rhead then Walter Slater who had worked with Doulton. It was Walter Slater’s son, Eric, who initiated the ‘Harmony’ range in 1932, at first with a series of banded designs, and then with ‘drip ware’ patterns, an effect which he discovered by accident, which became enormously popular such that around twenty five painters were employed in their decoration. Harmony ware was produced in a wide variety of colours and this auction includes three vases which well reflect the range.
Shelley Harmony Ware Vase glazed in shades of orange, yellow and grey, 1930s
Price: £95
A ceramic vase the broad slightly conical body narrowing towards the wide bulbous neck, the surface slightly ribbed and painted with various shades of ‘spun’ decoration in shades of orange, yellow and grey, the base glazed yellow and with a transfer mark ‘Shelley England’ and the impressed numbers ‘990’ presumably denoting the model number. Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was originally known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded under the name ‘The Foley Potteries’. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862, and it remained a Shelley family business until 1966, when it was taken over by Allied English Potteries. Josph’s son Percy employed first the designer Frederick Rhead then Walter Slater who had worked with Doulton. It was Walter Slater’s son, Eric, who initiated the ‘Harmony’ range in 1932, at first with a series of banded designs as here and then with drip ware patterns which became enormously popular. Harmony ware was produced in a wide variety of colours and this auction includes three vases examples which well reflect the range.