Decorative Arts

‘Past Times’ was founded in 1986 by John Beale, at first as a mail order company but then trading from physical stores and developing into a business which enjoyed enormous popularity with over one hundred shops in the early 2000s. The stock was focused on retro and vintage style items also including a wide range of licensed products, such as Harry Potter and Beatrix Potter merchandise. Badly impacted by the recession in 2008 it went into administration in 2012 and was bought by W.H.Smith a year later leading to the disappearance of its products from the marketplace.

This ‘Art Nouveau’ vase can be seen as an example of their range at its best. Manufactured with care it presents an appealing souvenir of the era it aims to recreate at a rather more affordable price than the authentic originals.

The design and style of these pieces recalls products of the ‘aesthetic movement’ era popular in Britain from 1860 to 1900. The object was to produce items of beauty and the furnishings and domestic objects of the middle-class home were to be of a quality that would please the eye of the artist and grace the houses of collectors and connoisseurs. William Morris, in particular, concentrated on distinctive organic forms and the floral designs of his wallpaper and tiles are reflected in the gilt bronze decoration here (see image 8) . The influences on the movement were diverse and Oriental porcelains extremely popular. Perhaps this explains the use of blue and white ceramic here, although the work looks Western rather than Eastern. The form of the nozzles also has many parallels in other contemporary candlesticks. Although there is a slightly continental feel to these pieces, the aesthetic movement was very much a British fashion so English manufacture is the most likely with a circa date in the late nineteenth century before the style lost its popularity in 1900.

Kosta Boda, previously known as Kosta Glasbruk, is a Swedish glassmaking company founded by two foreign officers in Charles XII's army, Anders Koskull and Georg Bogislaus Staël von Holstein, in 1742.It is located in Kosta, Sweden. Early production consisted of window glass, chandeliers and drinking glasses. From the 1840s, the factory was at the forefront of new trends and technical developments, producing pressed glass, and in the 1880s setting up a new glass-cutting workshop. In 1903, the company merged with the Reijmyre glassworks but both retained their own names and Kosta went on to maintain its reputation as one of the leading Swedish manufacturers with a range of fine art glass and tableware by distinguished designers such as Vicke Lindstrand, artistic director from 1950-1973.

Kjell Engman (see image 11) has been a designer at Kosta Boda since 1948. Also a professional rock musician, his works are often held to display a dancing feel and joie de vivre derived from his musical background. On the Kosta Boda website he writes “In my view, the glass is the pen for writing my stories. I don’t want to depress my audience; rather, I want to offer them joy and fantasy. My art should make people smile; it should be something positive.” Perhaps something of his sense of fun can be seen in this bowl, one of the largest of the range produced by Kosta Boda. which incorporates colour with movement and is often termed ‘Twister’. These bowls seem not now to be available from the firm direct and probably date to the late twentieth century. This example is of exceptional size and in pristine condition, an imposing centrepiece for a modern interior.

This is a classic example of the early work of the distinguished British studio potter Alan Wallwork whose pieces now appear in many collections and galleries (see images 15,16). Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, in 1931, Wallwork’s training included a one year spell at Goldsmith’s after which he taught in local schools and then opened his first gallery at Forest Hill in 1958 where he both sold pieces by Lucie Rie and Kenneth Clark, amongst others, and also developed his own work. Eventually finding this too small he moved to a studio in Greenwich where he sold items to Heal’s and the Craft Potters Association, moving yet again to Dorset in 1965 where he continued production for many years. After an illness in the late 1990s, Wallwork opened yet another studio in France in 2004 where he continued to pot but with a rather reduced output. In his last years, his health unfortunately declined and he died in Dorset in 2019.

Wallwork’s work, distinguished by its rugged rustic forms enjoyed great popularity throughout his lifetime. In 2012 he wrote “My pots have no deep ‘message’, or not consciously. They have the simple forms I personally warm to and I try to give them a variety of pattern and texture that I find sympathetic to the touch, not just the eye. Colour is not all important, but surface is. I hope my pots invite being picked up and felt.”

The form of this piece, often described as ‘totem’, dates it to the years in Greenwich, 1960-1965, (see the website alanwallwork.co.uk for more detail on this). In common with other examples it is signed with a single ‘W’ which indicates that it was a studio or apprentice piece rather than hand produced by Wallwork himself, who usually marked his own pieces with both his initials ‘AW’, see ‘British Studio Potters’ Marks’ by Eric Yates-Owen and Robert Fournier (2nd edition 2005 p517). But this should not detract from the vase itself which retains the distinctive appeal of his work and is a particularly striking shape enhanced by the ‘native’ decoration.

Known first as ‘profiles’ or ‘shades’ silhouettes became a common form of portraiture before the development of photography but continued to be made well after and indeed into the C20th. This pair of portrait heads, two from a series of twenty according to the label on the reverse, were produced in a studio set up by Enid Elliot Linder in the 1970s. Starting in a room at the back of a house in Babbacombe, Enid Linder, an artist with a great talent for painting silhouettes, began production in 1972 and, within the space of a few months, helped by her husband and four assistants was producing 500 pictures a week, necessitating a move to larger premises on the Teignmouth Road. By 1980, the ‘Pennyfarthing Galleries’, as they had become known, had sold an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 pictures all around the world. All were all produced at the Teignmouth Road premises, and checked and signed in pencil by the artist. Various series were produced and this pair of portraits come from what seems to have been a series of generic images of early nineteenth century figures. The influence of Jane Austen is obvious and these two silhouette heads are an attractive reminder of a tradition of portraiture with long historical associations.

There were, in fact, two craftsmen working in the C20th British pottery industry with the name Edward Radford, father and son. Radford senior worked for Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian Pottery in Manchester from 1903 until his retirement in 1936, acting as their main thrower. Radford junior joined his Father in 1905, but the First World War intervened, in which he won a Military Cross for his actions at Passchendaele in 1917 and afterwards he settled in Stoke on Trent, the heart of Britain’s pottery industry. An association developed with H.J.Wood’s Alexandra Pottery in Burslem who produced a range of wares bearing his name in the 1930s, although Radford himself may have acted as more a salesman than the designer. Production continued after the war and even after Radford’s retirement in 1948. The form of mark used here implies a later dating and both the shape, indicated by the model number underneath which is found on other vases with different decoration, and the decoration itself suggest the post war era, probably in the 1950s. There is, though, a modest charm here which would blend comfortably with a modern interior.

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A pair of ceramic figures depicting two Chinese figures seated cross legged, usually termed an Emperor and an Empress. They are modelled dressed in colourful and patterned robes fastened with sashes at the waist and with frill collars. The lady holds a fan and the gentleman a pipe and both hold parasols fitted to their hands by wire and with decoration to the undersides. The heads are made separately, weighted at the bottom (see images 7, 13) and have wire supports to the side which rest on wires on each side of the top interior which are secured through holes on the exterior at the front and back. When pushed, the heads then move in a most lifelike fashion. The hollow interiors are glazed white with an unglazed foot rim, but there are no marks.

So called ‘nodding head’ figures began to be exported from China to the West in the mid eighteenth century following a tradition which dated back many years before. The figures were drawn from the Court or Chinese high society and at first were made from clay or wood with painted decoration, necessarily rather delicate interior accessories. A pair can be seen in the background of a picture painted by Zoffany of Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) with her two eldest Sons depicting an interior at Buckingham house (now Buckingham Palace) and dated to 1764 (see image 15). Rather larger models, almost life size, were displayed in the Gallery of the Brighton pavilion, reflecting the passion of the Prince Regent, George IV (1762–1830) for Chinoiserie in general.

But the form was also taken up by the kilns at Jingdezhen and the decorators at Canton and ceramic ‘nodding head’ figures were soon exported too, brightly painted in the popular ‘Famille Rose’ enamels (see image 16 for a typical example from the Qianlong period, 1736-1795). Sensing the popularity of the type, European manufacturers too began to produce their own versions, rather different from the Chinese originals and usually depicting the figures seated which was much less common for the Eastern examples. The most well known examples were made by Meissen and tended to have both moving heads and hands as well (see image 17) but a less expensive version of these (see image 18) was made by the firm Ernst Bohne & Sohne, prolific manufacturers of modest ceramic ornaments for the domestic interior including the well known ‘fairing’ figurines, examples of which can be seen elsewhere on this site. There are also figures with their mark which exactly resemble the model type offered in this sale, complete with the parasol, so it is a reasonable assumption that this pair of figures can be attributed to them as well. While perhaps less grand than their companions, this pair of eastern potentates have a charm of their own and, when set in motion, are uncannily lifelike. Gilbert and Sullivan for the 21st century!

This fine quality vase is from the Maya range made by Poole Pottery, some of the pieces still being in production today and described in the maker’s catalogue as follows “Poole Pottery’s Maya collection is inspired by British landscapes and earthy tones. The greens and blues in this stunning range represent the earth meeting the sky in a natural yet bold design. Here at Poole Pottery, all our Maya ceramics are hand-cast and made using our signature reactive glaze in the famous Middleport Pottery in Staffordshire. The distinctive pieces you see here are created via our Living Glaze technique, where layers of colourful glazes react with one another to create a unique, glossy and dynamic finish.” But this particular form does not appear in the current catalogue and does not seem to be otherwise available. The form of the mark appears on other Poole pieces of more recent manufacture and dating is probably to around twenty years ago. The initials are for the artist’s signature and Poole write “Items are personalised with the artist's own individual mark, adding value to the collectability of each piece.” Given its scarcity, this vase would make an interesting addition to a collection of Poole Pottery aside from being a highly decorative item in its own right.

Various pieces in this style where amber glass panels are combined with elaborate gilt metal work can be found. Most were intended as dressing table ornaments, as here. Sometimes termed 'Hollywood', after the American made products in this style of which Lot 1 in this sale is a prime specimen, these items were designed to add a touch of luxury to the bedroom. They are usually regarded as French and thought to have been made between the 1920s and 1940s. This is a particularly nice example with no damage to either the glass or the metalwork.

The sparkling stones and high quality mounting (there is a considerable weight of silver in this piece) would have made this buckle a notable addition to the Victorian ladies' wardrobe and it could equally well catch the eye today.

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.

‘SylvaC’ (the name was written with a capital ‘C’ after registration of the trademark in 1938) was a trade name of Shaw and Copestake, a company formed by Mr. William Shaw and a Mr. Copestake around 1900. Mr. Copestake sold his shares to a Mr. Richard Hull after about six months of business and this partnership continued until Mr. Hull’s death in 1935. He was succeeded by his son, Mr. Richard Hull junior. In the following year, the business became a limited company. Various mergers and acquisitions followed and in the 1950s new premises were built and production expanded considerably continuing until the early 1980s when changing markets and increased competition forced the company into liquidation.

Sylvac were famous for imaginative glazed wares, particularly animals, and this jug is a typical and pleasing example of their work.

Aquincus was an ancient Roman settlement, eventually to become the town Obuda, the third of the three cities which were merged to form Budapest and the oldest district in the Hungarian capital. In 1854, Hüttl Tivadar set up a shop in Pest selling porcelain eventually becoming involved in porcelain manufacture itself with such success that by the early 1900s he was supplying the court at Buda, eventually supplanting the rival firm of Herend. Despite legal battles amongst the family concerning the ownership of the business, the firm continued to prosper until the 1950s when the new communist government decided to nationalize the factory, renaming it Aquincum Porcelángyár. Tableware, which had been the staple of the Hüttls’ production was replaced by figurines which rapidly enjoyed great popularity. One of the principle artists was Antonia Szabó who became chief designer in 1966. With the end of socialism, the firm went into private hands in 1993 but suffered an immediate and rapid decline causing it to close soon after.

This figure may possibly, then, have been designed by Szabó himself but it is certainly typical of the pieces produced in the early years of state control and perhaps one of the most appealing. The form of the mark corresponds with a dating to the 1950s or 1960s and the piece has both historical associations and considerable decorative appeal.

The Jema factory in Holland was started by two brothers, Jelis Mager ( born 1912 in Rotterdam, Netherlands) and his brother Johan Willem Mager (born 1919 also in Rotterdam) both living in Maastricht who took over an existing ceramics factory, founded originally by J.Meussen, in 1942 and traded together in a partnership which was dissolved in 1955 when the firm JEMA KERAMISCH ATELIER N.V. (jema ceramic studio; the first JE standing for Jelis and MA standing for Mager) was created under a new agreement between them. Ceramic products of many types were produced with figurines a speciality and the business continued until 1984 when it became insolvent and closed its doors.

Most of the pieces seem to have been marked, usually with an impressed script as here indicating the factory itself and the model number of the piece. For modest decorative items the quality of the manufacture is of a high standard as can be seen in both the modelling and the glazing of this piece. Their animal figurines were immediately approachable and provided modest but amusing items of decoration.

Guido Cacciapuoti was a celebrated Italian ceramicist. Born in Naples in 1892 and from a family with a tradition in the creation of majolica pottery, Guido exhibited his work widely in the 1920s and finally, in collaboration with his brother, Mario, and Angelo Bignami as the administrative and commercial director, he founded the factory ‘Gres d'Arte Cacciapuoti Bignami & C.' in Milan in 1927. Mario unfortunately died three years later leaving Guido to carry on on his own until his death in 1953.

In the 1930s, Guido’s workshop became famous for the production of ceramic animal sculptures with fish being a particular speciality. More commonly seen are groups of John Dory, again with a red glaze, but the smoother lines here and the particularly intense colour reflect more closely the contemporary Art Deco style. Sought after in their own time, with patrons such as the King of Italy and Mussolini, Guido’s works are highly collectible today and this group would make a striking addition to a collection of Art Deco ceramics with considerable decorative appeal.

The fine stitching used here is a version of needlepoint termed ‘petit point’ because of the small size of stitches used. In general needlepoint, designs are stitched onto fine canvas using a simple tent stitch, a small, diagonal stitch that crosses over the intersection of one horizontal and one vertical thread of the canvas forming a slanted stitch at a 45-degree angle. Petit point uses the same technique but with much finer stitching and thread on a much finer canvas often requiring magnification for the work to be carried out. It allows more intricate designs and shading effects as can be clearly seen here. The technique was particularly popular in France amongst the aristocracy in the early eighteenth century which perhaps determines the choice of subject here but with their intricate stitching and complementary frames, this pair of tapestries would definitely be a candidate for boudoir accessories in the present day.

The Isle of White Glass studio was established by the celebrated glass maker Michael Harris in 1972 after he left his first glassworks based in Malta, the well known Mdina Glass. Some of the Mdina designs continued to be made in his new location but new ranges were introduced as well, among them the ‘Golden Peacock’ design which was made from 1982 to 2003. The particular variation we have here is ‘Royale’ which was made from 1987 to 1998 allowing a fairly precise dating for this piece. Michael Harris died in 1994 and the business was continued by one of his sons, Timothy (see image 12), and his wife, Elizabeth, until it unfortunately went into liquidation in 2012. But Timothy’s younger brother, Richard, came to the rescue and business resumed in 2014, continuing until the present day in new premises at the Arreton Barnes Craft Village.

The pieces made by Isle of Wight Glass are a continuation of the innovative designs and skiful craftsmanship seen in Mdina pieces and this bottle is a fine example of their work. It also comes with a matching box but this may not be the original one (other examples are taller) since the stopper has to be loose packed separately. This hardly detracts, though, from a striking and individual piece in an attractive and rarely found colour wave.

Souvenirs and medals were produced, amongst which were silver plated powder compacts as here. The round container for the powder has a hinged lid revealing the powder well below, originally fitted with a mauve ribbon tasseled powder puff, and a mirror above. On the surface of the lid, which has a tab for lifting, is a stylised brass lion, a symbol of the British Empire, vitreous enameled in black, red and blue with the wording ‘British Empire Exhibition 1925 ’ There is a short rounded handle and the back has an engraved mark ‘Rd [registered] 689177’ for the patent number. While many were doubtless made (and there is another version with a more slender handle, with a ring at the end, and the background colourings of the lettering reversed) few of these compacts seem to have survived making this a desirable addition to a collection of British memorabilia.

Falcon Ware was the trade name for pieces produced by Thomas Lawrence, later Thomas Lawrence (Longton) Ltd, a business founded by Thomas Lawrence in 1885 which moved to the Falcon works, Longton, in 1895. In the same year he took his nephew, John Grundy into partnership and around 1920 Grundy became the Managing Director. Thomas Lawrence died in April 1932 and John Grundy became the sole proprietor until his death in 1938 when the business was sold to Grundy's son-in-law Mr Richard Hull (jnr) and Mr. E.J. Dennis and the name was changed to 'Thomas Lawrence (Longton) Limited'. At the same time the firm merged with Shaw and Copestake Ltd of which Richard Hull was a Director but the two businesses still operated independently until 1962 when the Thomas Lawrence business was fully subsumed by its partner with the ‘Falcon’ name ceasing to be used two years later in 1964.

Falcon Ware was known for colourful and decorative designs often with naturalistic themes. This jardiniere is an excellent and unusual example. The cipher ‘LG’, for Lawrence and Grundy, which is not so often found, implies a dating to the 1930s which corresponds with the general style of the piece with its hint of Art Deco associations.

The company Søholm Stentøj was founded by Herman Sonne Wolffsen and Edvard Christian Sonne in 1835 at Rønne, the principal town of Bornholm, a Danish island off the south coast of Sweden. One of the most respected of the Danish potteries it continued producing a wide range of ceramics until the firm closed in 1996. Noomi Backhausen was a designer for Søholm from 1966 to 1990 and set up her own pottery in Rønne in 1996 after the closure of her old employers. This wall vase is a typical example of her abstract organic designs and would be a worthy addition to a collection of twentieth century Danish design.

Carlton Ware was the trade mark used by the pottery manufacturer Wiltshaw and Robinson, whose premises were located in Stoke on Trent, four years after the firm’s establishment in 1890. The firm mostly concentrated on decorative giftware and new methods of production introduced in the 1920s put it at the forefront of the earliest Art Deco pottery pieces produced, firstly with designs originating from Tutankhamun’s tomb and then with pieces with an Oriental influence of which this vase, in shape not often seen in this design, is a prime example.

Elements of two contrasting contemporary styles combine here with features from both the Arts and Crafts and the Art Nouveau movement. The hammered pewter with the almost rustic nail head fixings and the red bead reflect the former but the elegant depiction of the lotus and butterfly, with more than a hint of the Orient, reflect the latter. The maker is anonymous but doubtless British and clearly a highly skilled craftsman. Much thought and expertise went into the design of this piece which would be a desirable addition for collectors of either or both of the pieces made under the influence of these two highly popular design movements.

These pieces represent something of a puzzle. Seen the right way round (with the handle on the right) they are plain and the decoration only reveals itself on the reverse. This suggests a playful intent to conceal which, when combined with the subject matter, suggests something a bit ‘naughty’ which could confirm the second interpretation of what the seated man is holding! The paste, and general style of the pieces, looks continental and a German origin might be a good guess, but no more than that. The blue glazed jug has an impressed mark to the base ‘186 [plus an unidentifiable number]’ which might be the date but is more likely the pattern number; a dating of around 1900 for both seems reasonable - certainly there is an ‘old’ look to the pieces. There are one or two similar examples but little in the way of firm information. One for a collector to puzzle out!

Elements of two contrasting contemporary styles combine here with features from both the Arts and Crafts and the Art Nouveau movement. The hammered pewter with the almost rustic nail head fixings and the red bead reflect the former but the elegant depiction of the lotus and butterfly, with more than a hint of the Orient, reflect the latter. The maker is anonymous but doubtless British and clearly a highly skilled craftsman. Much thought and expertise went into the design of this piece which would be a desirable addition for collectors of either or both of the pieces made under the influence of these two highly popular design movements.