14 2nd April 2011 london selection


Right: an inter-War Moorcroft landscape vase with a rare flambé glaze, 6in (15.5cm), sold for £6500 at Bonhams' sale of Ceramic Design on March 16.


Above: Moorcroft from Bonhams’ sale. A Bluebells covered butter dish made by William Moorcroft for Liberty c.1904, 8in (21cm) diameter, £1200; an early c.1914 covered bowl in the Claremont pattern, 6½in (17cm) diameter including handles (one restored) £800; a 7¼in (18.5cm) high banded vase of c.1925 with the Honesty pattern, £900, £800; an early, c.1910, long neck vase 8in (20cm) high, by William Moorcroft for Liberty, £1900.


continued from page 13 ceramic design at bonhams


scales or the tips of the horns seen on other examples he has encountered. Nonetheless, it came in just under estimate at £9800, a reflection of the fact that this was another lot on which VAT was additionally payable on the hammer price. The sale also included a whole series


of non-sculptural wares by the same duo covered in similar characteristic thick colourful dripping Chang glazes. Varying in size from 3 to 11½in (8 to 29cm) high, these ranged in price from £750 up to £5500. There were also some more standard


Doulton figures whose attraction lay in the variant of an experimental glaze like a hitherto unrecorded version of HN51 (Spook) covered in a Titanian glaze and pictured in our preview that realised


Left: a Doulton figure of a gnome, HN380, c.1920, covered in a Titanian blue glaze, £5000 at Bonhams.


£3600, or a Titanian-glazed version of HN380, a seated gnome. This went for £5000, which was £500 more than was paid for another Titanian-glazed version in the equivalent sale last year. A Sung vase with a lion and lioness


signed by Arthur Eaton and Noke was impressive at 12½in (32cm) high but was held back by some surface scratches which kept the price just under the low end of a £6000-8000 estimate at £5200. The Lambeth wares were thin on


great Hannah Barlow animal subjects and quirky pieces of Tinworth’s anthropomorphism this time, leaving as the best seller a large plaque conventionally but very finely painted by Florence Barlow with a study of a large macaw and three manakin birds perched on a branch. This swept past its £3500- 4000 guide to take £6500. Much of Bonhams’ sale last autumn


was given over to the mammoth Richard Wright collection of Moorcroft, a 290-lot ensemble that contributed £290,000 to that sale’s overall coffers. This March offering wasn’t quite in the same league in terms of size or value, containing two smaller single-owner properties and a smattering of mixed-owner wares, but the selling rate was just as high as for the Wright ensemble with all bar 18 of the 135 lots changing hands. Nothing quite reached the height of


the £16,000 paid in the Wright sale for the rare Moorcroft advertising plaque, but there were substantial prices paid for rare or desirable patterns, unusual glazes or colourways, most of which came from a small, 18-lot collection consigned from New Zealand. This included a rare 6in (15.5cm)


high example of a landscape vase with a brilliant flambé glaze that went for £6500; an early and very unusual


landscape vase decorated with a pattern of poplar trees pictured in ATG No 1980 that despite restoration outstripped its £800-1200 guide to take £5500, and a Moorcroft octagonal clock case in the Eventide pattern, also previewed, at £4000. Topping all these at a within- estimate £9800 was an 8in (20cm) high, two-handled squat vase from another source painted with the Waratah pattern. This design, made for the Australian market, is one of Moorcroft’s more desirable patterns, but what picked this version out was its flambé variant glaze and good condition. Not everything fell into this category.


The Moorcroft section also included 57 lots from the Professor Abbey collection which alongside more unusual items also featured more standard affordable pieces priced in the low hundreds. Outside the two main factories and


the Fairyland lustre wares, the other notable results came from a small 16-lot section devoted to Martin Brothers art pottery. There was only one of the bird figures


that are the holy grail for collectors in this field. This was a 11¾in (30cm) high version signed and dated 1889 that came with the bonus of a very attractive £6000-8000 estimate, which it duly doubled at £15,000. But there were some good examples


of other Martinware work. These included a large 13¾in (35cm) high version of one of their fish vases, painted with characteristic piscine grotesques on a buff ground and signed and dated 1889, that realised £7000. There was also a much less characteristic Martinware subject, a pair of 14½in (37cm) high, buff glazed figures of stoneware lions pictured in ATG No 1980 monogrammed WEM, signed and dated 1896-7.


Above: while the Continental selection in Bonhams’ sale was not its strong suit either in terms of volume or selling rate, this 14½in (37cm) Cantagalli charger was a popular offering. Dating from the 1880s but fashioned in the style of Renaissance maiolica with putti, scrolls, busts and birds on a dark blue ground highlighted with gilt lustre, it easily outstripped its £600-800 estimate to take £4000.


These got away at the lower end


of their £15,000-20,000 estimate, a reflection partly of their restored condition but also perhaps the fact that they are not typical Martinware creations. Swelling a 35-lot section of William


de Morgan ware was a 28-lot collection of tiles. All bar one changed hands, although most got away at the lower end of the estimates. What few unsolds there were


tended to be found amongst a small artist-focused section from various miscellaneous factories: Gwendolen Parnell for Chelsea; Edward Bawden for Poole; and Christopher Dresser and John Wadsworth for Minton. The small Continental section was also picked over, including a ten-ot collection of Theodore Deck plaques, chargers and vases from the collection of the late Bernard Bumpus.


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