Ephemera

Yellow Citroen 2CV Teapot by Andy Titcomb, signed and dated, 1990

Price: £55

Andy Titcomb is an artist with many talents, even including film and television work (image 10 shows him with Martin Clunes in the series ‘Doc Martin’). He is probably best known as a designer and creator of ceramics and within that field in particular for his imaginative series of teapots. On his website, he writes

‘I worked with Paul Cardew in his first business Sunshine Ceramics from 1978 to 1983. After a number of years making and decorating all manner of odd shaped ashtrays, punk mugs and Nat West piggy banks, I left to concentrate on my own work. I made a range of brooches which were selected by the Design Centre. In 1983 with a converted pigsty as a workshop, I made my first teapot...a black and white harlequin. Encouraged by The Teahouse in Covent Garden London I began to make many more teapots.’

By 1990, he had deserted the pigsty and had a studio in North Cornwall where he continued production until 2016 when ‘I decided that there was too much “stuff” in the world without me adding to it, so I retired from all things ceramic and gave my materials and other equipment to other potters.’

Titcomb’s grandmother owned a yellow ‘Sadler’ racing car teapot, a classic design from the 1930s which is much sought after today (see image 11) and this inspired him to make his own version in the form of a Citroen 2CV, although he also produced a model copying the Volkswagen ‘Beetle’. This reinterpretation of the 1930s original, made in 1990 soon after the move to Cornwall has great charm of its own and is as equally collectible as its prototype.

Framed needlework picture, Anemone Flower, C20th

Price: £25

A colourful and decorative needlework picture featuring a blue anemone flower surrounded by geometric patterns in shades of pink, yellow, blue, and green. This is most likely the work of an accomplished amateur and possibly follows a pattern design. Many similar compositions can be found but this one is particularly successful and well complemented by its frame which is most likely contemporary with it and probably dates to the mid to late twentieth century.

Framed print, Madonna of the Streets, mid C20th

Price: £20

As semi devotional work with a circular print of a young lady in Victorian dress holding a child set in a square wood frame with painted sprays of flowers at each corner. The image seen here is taken from a celebrated Italian picture titled ‘La Madonnina’ (or more commonly ‘Madonna of the Streets’ or ‘Madonna del riposo’) by the artist Roberto Ferruzzi (1854-1934). This won the second Venice Biennale in 1897 and was subsequently popularised by the edition of various print reproductions in a variety of formats and sizes including framed portraits and greeting cards. The original is believed to have been a vertical sepia painting in a gilt frame, approximately 27cm high and 21cm wide. It was bought by John George Alexander Leishman, a steel entrepreneur and diplomat, who died in France in 1924 but its whereabouts today, while often speculated on, are unknown.

Not originally intended as a religious work it was rapidly regarded as an image of the Madonna and under this guise has enjoyed wide circulation as a semi devotional work. This example, which is most likely Italian and probably dates to the mid twentieth century, is typical and was probably regarded by its original owner as far more than just a decorative object and may perhaps retain a similar appeal today.

Pair of Staffordshire style figures, Boy and Girl, probably German, late C19th

Price: £75

A pair of ceramic figures of a boy and a girl modelled standing on a base resembling tree stumps, both dressed in country attire, the girl carrying a basket and a bag and the boy holding boots and a scarf, the white glaze with polychrome colourings and highlights in gilt, the bases hollow with markings ‘27’. While these look superficially to be English Staffordshire, the paste of the foot and some elements of the decoration indicate continental work most likely from Germany. There are resemblances here to the figures, many of them ‘fairings’, made by Conta and Boehme in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and some see the factory Heubach here, who did indeed make ceramic figures in a ‘rustic’ style but these are usually more elaborately modelled. So while German work is the most likely an exact attribution has to remain uncertain. But this young couple make an attractive pair and while intended for a late Victorian interior would not look out of place in a more modern one.

Alphabet needlework sampler by Sarah Goodwin, dated 1828, with later frame

Price: £150

Samplers (the name derives from the Latin ‘exemplum’, meaning ‘example’) were exhibition pieces intended to demonstrate skill in needlework and have a long history dating back even to BCE times. They were produced in Europe from the sixteenth century onwards but enjoyed something of a heyday in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, becoming one of the accomplishments expected of young girls to demonstrate their achievement and industry, a fashion which was to die out after the 1900s.

This is a fine example of the ‘alphabet’ sampler showing the letters in capital, lower case and script style with the numbers ‘1-15’ in addition. It is signed by its maker, one Sarah Goodwin, who shows considerable skill for one only eight years old. Frampton is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire. There was only one church there in the early nineteenth century, the limestone church of Saint Mary dating from the 12th century and Sarah no doubt worshipped there. She produced a true ‘demonstration piece’ here which has remained in excellent condition and doubtless been enjoyed over the years including by its last recipient who received it as a gift thirty years ago.

Cambridge ware tea caddy and cover with T monogram on the lid, mid C20th

Price: £25

A tea caddy and cover of round ovoid form with a flat lid, the body comprised of small wood segments joined together in bands of different types, including teak and mahogany, and colours, the central band ridged, the base and cover plain and the top of the cover with an inset metal monogram reading ‘T’, doubtless for ‘tea’ surrounded by stylised foliage. The work here is typical of so called ‘Cambridge Ware’ produced by an anonymous firm, presumably based in or near to Cambridge itself, and was apparently produced from small recycled pieces of wood. Besides tea caddies, the firm also produced ice buckets and bowls, many with a green beize felt covering underneath (as here) and some with a foil or paper label identifying the manufacturer (missing here). Their pieces seem to have been made in the 1950s and 1960s and were quite popular at the time but have become modest collector’s items now.

Aquatint panoramic engraving of Windsor castle, maple veneer frame, C19th

Price: £350

A ‘panorama’ view of Windsor castle, the principal buildings identified at the bottom as (i) Round Tower by Keep (ii) St George's Gate (iii) York & Lancaster Towers (iv) Victoria Tower (v) Clarence Tower (vi) Chester Tower (vii) Prince of Wales Tower (viii) Brunswick Tower 1826 (ix) Cornwall Tower (x) Sun Dial (xi) George IV Tower. The grounds are filled with people milling around, the ladies in crinolines and the gentlemen in top hats, suggesting a dating, if the scene is contemporary with its depiction, to the first half of the nineteenth century.

This is an excellent example of the Victorian static panorama view allowing a broad sweep of the subject to be represented. It was, perhaps, a deluxe souvenir, for visitors to Windsor Castle at that time. The shading effects in the printing suggest an aquatint rather than an engraving, the acid technique used allowing gradations of tone. It is possible that there was the addition of some hand colouring as well. The maple veneer frame along with gilt edging is most likely original and probably fitted with the original glass making it a fine and complementary setting for this virtuoso production.