CERAMICSAND GLASS SPRING 2015

Welcome to this latest newsletter from the Ceramics and Glass department at Bonhams. After the holidays and at the start of the year we like to keep you informed. My department has just enjoyed another splendid year. With total sales in London in 2014 in excess of £5million, we have maintained our position as the overall market leaders in our field. World record prices include a Vezzi porcelain vase sold for £338,500. But perhaps most exciting of all has been the warm relationships and continued support we have felt from you, our fellow porcelain and glass enthusiasts, and the many new contacts and beginning collectors we have encountered during the past year.

In 2015 new plans are on the horizon that will hopefully serve you even better. I am excited to announce a new category of auction. Britain—Defining the Interior places fine British pottery and porcelain within the context of Country Houses, displaying stylish ceramics alongside some of the best English furniture and silver of the period. These important sales will attract new international buyers alongside established collectors. You will find more details on these sales in the newsletter.

I hope you will enjoy reading about the highlights of the past season and some of the exciting things already consigned for our latest auctions. Before these sales close for entries, there is plenty of time to arrange a visit from one of our specialists, so if you have porcelain and glass that you are thinking of selling, do give us a call or send us an email. We enjoy huge support from our regional representatives all over the world, and we work closely together to give you the best experience possible. On the last pages of this newsletter you will find full details of all of our sales and how to contact the appropriate expert or your nearest Bonhams representative. We love to hear from you, whether you are interested in buying or selling, or simply to let us know what kind or porcelain or glass interests you the most. I hope to greet you personally at Bonhams soon, whether it be at one of our sales, lectures or just for a preview of our upcoming sales.

John Sandon

WELCOME

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There is a tendency to view ceramic objects in isolation, forgetting the context in which they were made. Some of the best English porcelain was designed to be an integral part of the interior. Objects placed historically within the period they were created remind us how the original owners would have used their ceramics within their homes.

Britain—Defining the Interior is a brand new category of auction at Bonhams in New Bond Street which unites objects by taste and style within a single sale. This allows the very best objects within each category and period to be displayed together. For this sale we will select the finest British ceramics and surround it with furniture and silver of the same period. Focusing on design features in this way will assist in a deeper understanding of the decorative arts of the time and the ways in which ceramics were used and displayed alongside furnishings of the period.

For many years, Bonhams has been at the forefront of British ceramic research and study. Britain-Defining the Interior will build on this proud tradition and the sale will attract specialist collectors as well as the new breed of international buyer simply seeking the very best pottery, porcelain, furniture and silver.

Below: An early Derby model of a cat, circa 1760£3,000 - 5,000Britain-Defining the Interior, 3 June

Defining the Interior

Bonhams EventsBonhams, in conjunction with the English Ceramic Circle and French Porcelain Society is proud to host a talk by Charlotte Jacob-Hanson entitled Fidelle Duvivier: new clues from France. It will take place in the New Bond Street rooms on Wednesday 16 September 2015. Further details to follow in the next newsletter.

Céramiques sans FrontièresAll three of our specialists for European Ceramics are long-standing committee members of the French Porcelain Society and in this function they are organising a whirlwind of ceramic events. For the second year running the French Porcelain Society is organising a symposium dedicated to European ceramics. The theme this year is ‘Céramiques sans Frontières’ and the symposium, coordinated by Sebastian Kuhn is on 19-20 June in London. There will be a host of international speakers from all over the world with one aim: celebrate ceramics and further research. Please contact Sebastian, Sophie or Nette if you would like to receive more information.

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Table mannersHaving worked at such restaurants as Hedone in West London and Faviken in northern Sweden, the head chef of Bonhams new restaurant, Tom Kemble takes a natural approach to dishes, cooking instinctively and sensitively with exceptional produce in peak condition.

The constantly changing menu allows ultimate flexibility, enabling Tom and his small kitchen team to work closely with their producers to serve elegant, naturally plated dishes using a blend of French technique with British, Italian and Scandinavian produce.

Diners have the opportunity to sample some of the world’s finest wines by the glass at affordable prices. The wine list is overseen by Master of Wine and Head of Bonhams Wine Department, Richard Harvey and the restaurants’ two Enomatic machines dispense up to 16 wines by the glass ensuring they stay in perfect condition.

Bonhams restaurant is now open Monday to Friday: 9.00 - 5.00Booking: 020 7648 5868

Knightsbridge A Centre of Excellence for Collectors

Bonhams historic auction galleries in Knightsbridge are famous for sales aimed at Collectors. In particular, Bonhams Knightsbridge is regarded as a centre of excellence in ceramics and glass, thanks to our well-known Decorative Arts department selling Contemporary ceramics, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Lalique glass.

To build on our reputation for great ceramics and glass sales at Knightsbridge, from this summer we will hold new Fine Glass sales and British Ceramics sales at Montpellier Street, where the galleries have been fully refurbished. The location, across from Harrods and just a stones-throw from the Victoria and Albert Museum, makes this a perfect venue for collectors to meet. Indeed, members of the English Ceramics Circle know Bonhams Knightsbridge rooms well as they hold regular lectures here as our guests.

All of the ceramics and glass sales held in London are catalogued by the same team of experts and because we understand the needs of our customers, the new Knightsbridge sales give our buyers and sellers extra choice. Within our sales of British Pottery and Porcelain at Knightsbridge we will offer items that appeal particularly to collectors who understand rarity and appreciate the importance of following the latest research into specialist fields such as English porcelain figures or early blue and white. And as provenance becomes ever more important to our buyers, our sales of Fine British and European Glass will focus on selling English wine glasses from named collections, rare early European glasses and carefully-chosen antique paperweights.

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French EncountersA wonderful and large Sèvres tazza with pâte-sur-pâte decoration by Hyacinthe Régnier will be offered in our Fine Ceramics sale on 17 June and is estimated at £30,000-50,000. The Sèvres factory was the first to introduce and develop the pâte-sur-pâte technique around 1849 and many early pieces were exhibited in International Exhibitions. A comparable tazza decorated by Régnier is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, purchased at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855.

A Sèvres Tazza by Hyacinthe Régnier, made in 1857£30,000 - 50,000Fine European Ceramics, 17 JuneClosing date for entries: 7 April

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

A Welsh MenagerieThis Swansea Pottery supper set, circa 1806, is one of the most important pieces of Swansea pottery to be offered for sale in recent times. Complete with its tray and eight matching plates, it is decorated by William Weston Young and Thomas Pardoe. Bonhams Welsh ceramics specialist, Fergus Gambon has been able to identify many of the source prints used for the finely-painted animals.

A Swansea Pottery supper set, circa 1806£10,000 - 15,000Britain-Defining the Interior, 3 JuneClosing date for entries: 3 April

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Tea with Lord NelsonDuring his rare breaks ashore in 1803-4, Lord Nelson lived at Merton with the beautiful Lady Hamilton. As Nelson and Emma sipped tea together from their ‘Baltic teaset’, he was no doubt unaware his precious tea service was actually French porcelain. The set had probably been presented to Nelson in 1802 along with the Freedom of the City, its oak leaf and anchor decoration the work of an unknown London china painter. The teapot has descended through the family from Hilare Barlow, Countess Nelson and Duchess of Bronte who married Nelson’s brother William. Bonhams Waterloo sale also features a cream ewer from Nelson’s Baltic teaset as well as a major new discovery, a presentation vase of Coalport porcelain painted with Nelson’s full coat of arms.

The teapot from Nelson’s Baltic Teaset, circa 1802£15,000 - 20,000Wellington, Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars, 1 April

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Ceramics & Glass

Slipware by Thomas ToftHaving successfully sold a number of fantastic slipware dishes in recent years, Bonhams has been asked to sell a further example by the best-known family of Staffordshire potters. This fine dish decorated with a geometric pattern is proudly signed ’THOMAS.TOFT‘. Thomas Toft and his son of the same name created some of the most important and highly-valued pieces of early folk pottery. The younger Thomas Toft II created linear and geometric patterns with an economy of design and a freedom that sets his dishes apart from those of his father.

‘Squares, Berries and Tulips’, a Staffordshire slipware dish by Thomas Toft II, circa 1700£35,000 - 45,000Britain—Defining the Interior, 3 JuneClosing date for entries: 3 April

Something New, Something BlueScientific research has recently questioned the traditional attributions of some of the earliest English blue and white and some additional makers may have to be considered. While this porcelain is so topical, this is an opportune time for Bonhams to sell two delightful new discoveries. A tiny cream pail attributed to Lund’s factory in Bristol has an incised mark of a cross and letter P. Could this be the initial of the enigmatic Robert Podmore? A little conical bowl is an unrecorded shape that links to Bristol or very early Worcester. Both discoveries feature in our sale on 20 May.A Lund’s Bristol cream pail, circa 1750£10,000 - 14,000Fine British Pottery and Porcelain, 20 MayClosing date for entries: 14 March

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Ceramics & Glass

A View on BiemannIncorporating some of the most important engraved glass from the Baroque, Rococo and Biedermeier periods, the recent sale of the Klaus Biemann Collection of Fine German Glass at Bonhams on 26 November exceeded expectations with 96% of the collection sold. Sale highlights included an impressive Hochschnitt goblet and cover by Friedrich Winter which sold for £122,500, and a magnificent Hessen goblet by Franz Gondelach which sold for £50,000.

A Silesian goblet by Friedrich Winter, Hermsdorf, circa 1700The Klaus Biemann Collectionsold for £122,500

Pretty DutchDelftware is the Netherlands’ most iconic export product, famous around the world and seen as exemplifying Dutch enterprise and creativity. Five Dutch museums have now joined hands to satisfy national and international interest in these ceramics. Museum Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum The Hague, Paleis Het Loo, Museum Prinsenhof Delft and the Rijksmuseum have launched Delftsaardewerk.nl (dutchdelftware.com): a Dutch / English-language website providing international access to a large proportion of the nation’s holdings of Dutch delftware. And there is more to celebrate: A large and rare Dutch Delft garden urn, made for King William III at the end of the 17th century, has been purchased at Bonhams by the Dutch Royal Palace, Het Loo. Suzanne Lambooy, Curator of Ceramics and Glass at the Palace, said: ‘These kinds of urns are exceedingly rare. We are delighted to have acquired this piece. It now enables us to tell the story of Royal Dutch Delftware commissioned by William III.’

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Ceramics & Glass

AS CLEAR AS GLASS Simon Cottle and James Peake discuss the market

In May 2013 Bonhams sold The Dessau Goblet, a masterpiece of engraved Silesian glass by Friedrich Winter, for £277,250 as part of the celebrated Mühleib Collection. This set a world record price for a piece of German glass of this type. It was therefore no surprise that the single-owner Klaus Biemann Collection of Fine German Glass sold at Bonhams last November for over £500,000. In a sale which paralleled our highly successful Masterpieces of Bohemian Glass auction in December 2013, which itself netted over £450,000, one of the star lots of the Klaus Biemann collection was a unique set of twelve Lower Austrian engraved beakers by Franz Paul Gottstein which sold for £37,500 (estimate

£25,000-30,000) (opposite below). “We are seeing a renewed interest in German glass, with some buyers entering this field of collecting for the first time”, says James. The sale included several pieces from the renowned former collections of Otto Dettmers, Rudolf Just and Dietmar Zoedler. Of course every auctioneer dreams of a new discovery, and this is exactly what happened when a previously unrecorded Venetian enamelled goblet was sold at Bonhams for £31,250 last May, in a sale which made over £350,000. “We now routinely commission scientific analysis on enamelled glass and ceramics which is able to confirm that such pieces are genuine,

“We are seeing a renewed interest in

German glass, with some

buyers entering this field of

collecting for the first time”

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Ceramics & Glass

instilling confidence to our buyers”, says Simon. Venetian and façon de Venise glass continues to achieve high prices, reinforcing current market trends. Two winged wine flutes sold by Bonhams as part of The Overduin Collection last May netted £10,625 and £14,375 respectively, far exceeding their £4,000-6,000 estimates (right). The market in British glass also remains buoyant, as demonstrated by the results of the Fine British Glass sale on 12 November. A small group of early Dutch or German ‘form glass’ from the celebrated collection of Ernesto and Liuba Wolf has been consigned to our next Fine Glass sale on Wednesday 20 May. A good Dutch-engraved ‘VOC’ baluster goblet has also been consigned for the sale. A similar ‘VOC’ goblet was amongst the most sought-after lots in last November’s glass sale when it sold for £17,500 (below right). Our Fine Glass sales will take place in our Knightsbridge salerooms. With Simon Cottle as Managing Director of Bonhams Europe our offices worldwide continue to play an important role in linking the international glass collecting market to London.

Fine Glass & Paperweights Wednesday 20 MayClosing date for entries: 13 March

In his foreword to the 1937 sale catalogue of the Emma Budge Collection, Professor Robert Schmidt, the Director of the Schlossmuseum in Berlin and one of the greatest scholars of 18th-century porcelain, stated that it was “one of the last surviving collections of decorative arts in Germany of truly outstanding quality.” Apart from 18th-century porcelain, Emma Budge collected silver, textiles, bronzes and other works of art, Italian maiolica, furniture, miniatures and boxes. She had been advised by the great Hamburg museum director, Justus Brinckmann (1843-1915), and the collection is also a testimony to his insistence on only the best quality and condition. Emma Budge had intended to leave her collection to the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, of which Brinckmann had been the founding director, but changed her mind when the Nazis came to power in Germany. Following her death, Budge’s collection suffered the fate of many formed by Jewish collectors in Germany: it was dispersed at auction and the proceeds withheld from the heirs and beneficiaries. Since 1998, the Principles of the Washington Conference on Nazi-confiscated art have provided a framework for the resolution of issues arising from the confiscation and dispersal of Jewish collections in the 1930s and 1940s. This has led to the restitution of a number

of works of art formerly in the Budge Collection by institutions and museums around the world and, in June 2014, the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel ruled that three Meissen figures that had been given at different times to the Victoria & Albert Museum should be returned to Emma Budge’s heirs. They have now been consigned for sale at Bonhams.

This rare early Meissen group of a seated lady attended by a servant provides vivid proof of Robert Schmidt’s assessment of the Budge Collection. The model, which depicts a lady of the court with a pug on her lap – a symbol of the exclusive but light-hearted pseudo-Masonic Mopsorden (Order of the Pug Dog) – is one of the earliest of Johann Joachim Kaendler’s small-scale groups for the Meissen factory. It was modelled by Kaendler between April and August 1737 and produced in several variations. This example is distinguished by the richly detailed and accurate decoration of the lady’s crinoline skirt, and vivid Baroque colouring: indications that it is one of the earliest examples of the group and was likely produced shortly after the model was created. A variation of the group, with a kneeling cavalier kissing the lady’s hand in place of the coffee table, is in the Pauls Collection, Basel.

AN IMMORTAL LEGACY Sebastian Kuhn on the famous pre-war collection of Emma Budge

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Ceramics & Glass

Emma Budge née Lazarus (1852-1937)

1852: born in Hamburg

1879: married banker Henry Budge 1879: moved to USA where her husband made his fortune in restructuring the American railway

companies.

1882: Emma became a US citizen

1903: moved back to Hamburg

1937: died in Hamburg

1937: forced sale of the collection

A Meissen group of a lady and her servant, circa 1740£30,000 - 50,000Fine European Ceramics, 17 JuneClosing date for entries: 7 April

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Ceramics & Glass

As I turn eighty-five and with my Biro fast running low, it seems time to pass on the smallest, the most select and probably the most interesting of my past collections-the mid-eighteenth century Chinese porcelains decorated in England for resale on the home market. The smallest of my collections because it represents a very rare class, produced within that ceramically important period 1740-1760. Small quantities of white or sparsely decorated porcelains were imported into Europe from Canton as ‘Private Trade’, perhaps as special orders. Such trade was the permitted but controlled privilege of ships’ captains or senior servants of the East India Company. Such pieces were used as a ground or canvas by decorators in the German states, Holland and England. My collection, however, comprises English-decorated pieces, Anglo-Chinese pieces which represent a happy marriage of east and west

The addition of overglaze decoration helps to explain the rarity of this class. It was applied by a few talented, specialist ceramics artist or by small teams working in studio-like conditions. The specimens were of high quality, intended for the top end of the market. The fine Chinese porcelain body was usually respected by the decorators, without the addition of distracting borders or gaudy ground colours.

Strangely, the British manufacturers often decorated their own products with Chinese-inspired designs, yet the English decoration added to true Chinese porcelain tended to be English in style.

This small collection has been slowly built up since I was inspired as a teenager by a number of English decorated Chinese pieces in my father’s collection, objects that he managed to spirit away during his career as a second generation antique dealer. These included the fine milk jug shown here, printed with the ‘Seated Shepherd’ design and washed in colours. By 1953, aged 24, I had the rare distinction for one so young of reading a paper on the subject to the English Ceramic Circle, titled ‘Chinese Porcelain, transfer printed in England’, published in 1957 in the Transactions, Vol 4, part 2. A number of pieces included in this sale are illustrated and discussed, including the fine saucer–shaped plate printed with the ‘Tea Party’ design picked out in colours and gilding, signed by Robert Hancock and dated 1757. No English porcelain piece could match this for thinness of potting and delicacy.

The majority of English decorated Chinese porcelains, however, are hand-painted, mostly with lively floral sprays. The colouring is sharper than that found on the softer English porcelains and the style is comparable to that of Chelsea porcelain of the 1752-56 period. My collection includes a good range of these, illustrating the different painting styles.

I hope that the sale will prompt new collectors to share my enjoyment of the subject and to carry out further research. The pleasure that I and other past collectors, like Dr Bernard Watney, have gained from collecting in this area is immense. They could hardly have proved to be a more rewarding investment. It is now time for the pieces to pass on to other homes to delight other eyes and interest other minds.

GODDEN ON GODDEN

The Geoffrey Godden Collection of English decorated Chinese porcelain will be sold on 20 May alongside our sale of Fine British Pottery and Porcelain.

Closing date for entries: 14 March

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HUNTING & GATHERING

Eclecticism is a very contemporary way of looking at object collecting, very much in the same way that an exhibition is curated. A collection can reveal so much about a person’s motivation, about a person’s inner thoughts.

Felix, what first drew you to ceramics?

I come from Munich- so I suppose that German porcelain is really strongly in everybody’s cultural consciousness. And then I graduated from Fashion History and Theory at Central St Martins. The course visits museums, archives and museum storerooms, like the Wallace Collection and the V&A. I think that ceramics can be a sort of repository of history and I think that is very interesting. For example with figures you can see exactly what people were wearing at the time - it can be a research tool. They’re also very indicative of social behaviours of their time. Especially when you start looking for the double meaning in the hidden gestures of some commedia figures or scurrilous behaviour of couples captured during their courting! What I think is interesting about Bonhams is that it is the only auction house holding dedicated ceramics sales. There’s always such a changing variety of different objects to see here, so really, if there is any place to learn about the subject, it’s Bonhams. One of the publications I am working on at the moment is called SomethingAboutMAGAZINE.com, and the Editor in Chief has been familiar with the Bonhams ceramics department for a long time, so that was the perfect introduction.

What is your favourite period in art? Are you drawn to both older ceramics, such as Meissen and Sèvres, and also modern masters?

I am attracted to shapes and colours in the first instance. I don’t really care if it is Italian or French, English or German. I love modern ceramics as well, Hans Coper is a firm favourite. I like the surfaces, how they’re quite rough-looking and textured. The colours are very pared back, and the pieces are really tactile objects. You can see the production processes behind them, which I like.

So what draws to you to an older piece of ceramic, for instance an 18th century Meissen piece?

What I like a lot about ceramics is the history behind the objects, how it was put to use - or whether it was actually used or kept just for display, and where it has been before. Provenance fascinates me. I think that is what’s so very interesting about the ceramics department at Bonhams; there are a lot of single owner sales, which I think is fascinating. It’s one person having the idea of collecting a certain period or certain type of object or certain maker.

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Ceramics & Glass

Bonhams European ceramics specialist Nette Megens talks with Felix Bischof, a Central Saint Martins graduate and freelance researcher and writer, about drawing inspiration from antique ceramics in today’s modern world.

The reasons behind that drive to collect are fascinating to me, as the objects become part of that person’s biography and vice-versa. One of my favourite items I discovered on my last visit was a Sèvres basin and ewer. It stood out to me because of the exceptional history behind it. It was made for the French court, and objects like that were a highly desirable public display of wealth and status. Then came the French revolution and nobody wanted it anymore! And now it is collected again as an art piece. It’s a piece of history; not just art and design history, but social history as well.

Can you pick a favourite piece sold in one of the recent Bonhams Ceramics and Glass sales?

Last time I was here at Bonhams, there was an incredible Delftware posset pot that caught my eye, from the November British Pottery sale. It featured the initials ‘SM’ and its date, 1695, in the most amazing colours – including clear turquoise green, blue and orange. The curved handles bore a pair of three-dimensional green snakes. This item, which was part of The Steven McManus Collection, was just beautiful! I also loved learning that the colours are applied in a process called ‘tin glazing’, and that its results are often a matter of pure chance. The technical difficulties often show in old ceramics which is something I really like.

From the ‘luxury lifestyle’ perspective of the online magazine you edit, do you feel that art collectors are becoming more diverse in terms of what they collect, more eclectic in their tastes?

A Vincennes ewer and basin, circa 1757Sold for £25,000

An English delftware posset pot, dated 1695Sold for £37,500Bought by the Geffrye Museum

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I think so...I mean, I know people who are collecting items from different fields of expertise, and from what I’ve seen it is very much about the back-stories of objects. Maybe for my generation, we want a diverse collection with the freedom to buy anything that takes our fancy, rather than concentrating on one medium or a narrow time period. Eclecticism is a very contemporary way of looking at object collecting, very much in the same way that an exhibition is curated. A collection can reveal so much about a person’s motivation, about a person’s inner thoughts. People can be a bit precious about ceramics, whether it’s due to the fragility or the age of a piece...but the great thing is, it is an accessible market, and as I’ve discovered you can buy fabulous things for a fraction of the price of a painting of the same level of quality.

What are your thoughts on how to integrate older ceramics into the modern home? And how are the ways collectors display their treasures changing?

I think it is important to not be too precious about the items- as with anything breakable and valuable, obviously you want to be careful. But often these are items that are meant to be used, meant to be displayed and enjoyed- not just locked away in a cabinet. Displaying the items you love should be about personality. It’s a way of curating in your own home; a collector can tell their own story. Again, this goes back to eclecticism; not just in what people collect, but how they can display it. Don’t be afraid to put a Sèvres teabowl and saucer in your mid-century modern sitting room. I think the idea of the obligatory glass vitrine as display method is a very old-fashioned one. It can render the objects very static; build a fun modern shelving unit to display your treasures, or have them dotted around randomly. I would personally rather see a wonderful piece of ceramics on the dinner table than in a glass vitrine! If you love the pieces and they have inherent quality, it doesn’t really matter where you put them. I think you shouldn’t be too afraid about things from different eras clashing visually.

Can you tell us a bit about the website you are launching?

One of the projects I’m working on at the moment is an online platform that’s launching in February, called SomethingAboutMAGAZINE.com. To date it has eleven magazines under this umbrella, each with a different topic- all to do with fashion, lifestyle and art and what influences these mediums. For the Luxury section, I look at rare, beautiful and opulent objects, places and people. As part of that we discuss people’s archives and what they collect, and I see it very much as being about beautiful objects and their stories- this is a platform for telling those stories.

Displaying the items you love should be about personality

A ‘Spade Form’ vase by Hans Coper, circa 1967Sold for $60,000 at Bonhams in 2007

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Ceramics & Glass

If you could choose any fabulous objects to decorate a room, price and availability not being a consideration, what would they be?

Oh, that’s so difficult! Do I have a whole room? And it can be anything? Ok, well...let’s see: I like Fornasetti a lot, I’d love to have one of the decorative screens, they’re so perfect! A Brancusi sculpture, because I just admire his work so much, and a Louise Bourgeois drawing. I really like 1930s furniture, so an art deco suite would be great. And lots of Jean Cocteau drawings for the walls, definitely. Clothing-wise, because I have to add something about fashion here, I would love to have a collection of 70s Halston. And of course anything by Elsa Schiaparelli. And to finish off the decor, it’s got to be that Delft posset pot!

Do you have a favourite piece from our upcoming sale?

The Meissen figurine of a grand lady that I saw earlier in your department is fantastic. It was part of the Budge Collection and she has now been restituted to the descendents. We’ve been talking about the history of an object being as crucial as how it looks, and this is a prime example- what a journey this piece has had! And costume-wise, the decoration on her dress is just exquisite. The detail is amazing- there is even coffee in her cup! I also like the pristine white Meissen Swan, mid-18th century, which I can imagine in one of the interiors of an Evelyn Waugh novel. Maybe even used as a centrepiece for a decadent dinner party!

A Piero Fornasetti four-panel ‘Libreria’ screen, circa 1955Sold for £9600 at Bonhams in 2011

A Meissen model of a swan, circa 1745£8,000 - 12,000Fine European Ceramics, 17 June 2015

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Ceramics & Glass

A Meissen plate from the service for Clemens August made in 1741-42, was bought back for the Augustusburg palace collection in Brühl in our last Fine European Ceramics auction on 26 November. Clemens August of Bavaria (1700-1761), Elector and Archbishop of Cologne, Prince Bishop of Münster, Paderborn, Hildesheim and Osnabrück, and Grand Master of the Deutsche Orden was a collector of both Oriental and Meissen porcelain and placed a number of commissions at the Meissen factory. The plate is returning to one of the Elector’s favourite residences, which is now considered one of the best examples of 18th century German rococo architecture and houses the largest collection of the service in Germany.

The Electoral Roll

Crowdfunding works. The Turin Museum Palazzo Madama discovered this first-hand after more than 1500 people donated the €80,000 needed to secure a very rare Meissen service made for the family of the founder of the museum, through a private treaty sale conducted by Bonhams. The service was purchased solely with private means, and an online website kept a tally of the donations which exceeded the required amount by nearly €10,000. Donations started from just two euros to several tens of thousands, but the vast majority of the money came from donations under fifty euros each. The service was purchased just in time for the celebrations of 150 years of the foundation of the museum.

Turin Triumph

The market for Sèvres porcelain is still going strong and pieces from the French factory are highly sought after. In our recent Fine European Ceramics sale on 26 November a plate from the famous Service ‘Marly Rouge’, circa 1809, made for Napoléon I and delivered to Fontainebleau Castle, was sold for £22,500. Two previous plates sold by Bonhams were acquired by the Chateau de Fontainebleau.

French Treasures

PORCELAIN RETURNS HOME

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An exceptional piece of Vezzi porcelain (circa 1725), superbly painted by Ludovico Ortolani with a scene showing Venus and Adonis embracing, more than tripled its estimate to sell for a staggering £338,500 in Bonhams Fine European Ceramics sale on 18th June 2014. The sale made a total of over £1.2million. Only a handful of large Vezzi vases are recorded and this vase is one of the largest pieces of Vezzi porcelain known. Also from Venice, the sale of The Overduin Collection on 21 May last year included some of the finest examples of Venetian and façon de Venise glass from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Carnival Of Venice

An object of enormous historic importance has been returned to its original home following a private treaty sale negotiated by Bonhams. Pavlovsk Palace has bought a very rare Ludwigsburg service which was made for Maria Feodorovna and ordered by her brother, the King of Württemberg, to be delivered to Pavlovsk, where she was living with her husband Paul I, Emperor of Russia. The service was deaccessioned in the 1930s under Stalin. The importance of the service has recently been highlighted in a Keramos article. Made in 1813 in Egyptian taste, the set has opulent gilding, which continues on the interior and even underneath the foot of each object!

Royal Russian

An extremely rare Meissen teapot which was once part the renowned von Klemperer Collection of Meissen porcelain produced a thrilling result by more than doubling its top estimate to achieve £128,500 in our sale of Fine European ceramics on 26 November. The teapot is decorated in incredibly rare Famille Verte colours. The majority of the von Klemperer Collection was lost or damaged during the Second World War, after first being confiscated by the Nazis and then suffering direct hits during the bombing of Dresden. Part of the collection was offered in our rooms in 2010, with prices far exceeding estimates due to enormous international interest in their incredible history.

East Meets West

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2015CALENDARSALE DATES 2015

Wednesday 1 April

Wed/Thu 15-16 April

Tuesday 28 April

Wednesday 20 May

Wednesday 20 May

Wednesday 3 June

Thursday 4 June

Wednesday 17 June

Tuesday 14 July

Tuesday 27 October

Monday 2 November

Monday 2 November

Wednesday 4 November

Wednesday 11 November

Wednesday 2 December

SALE TITLE

Wellington, Waterloo & the Napoleonic Wars

The Scottish Sale

British & European Ceramics, Glass & Asian Art

Fine Glass & Paperweights (British & European)

Fine British Pottery & Porcelain

Britain-Defining the InteriorFine Furniture, Silver & Ceramics

European Glass & Ceramics

Fine European Ceramics

British & European Ceramics, Glass & Asian Art

British & European Ceramics, Glass & Asian Art

Fine British Pottery & Porcelain

Fine Glass & Paperweights (British & European)

Britain-Defining the InteriorFine Furniture, Silver & Ceramics

European Glass & Ceramics

Fine European Ceramics

LOCATION

New Bond Street

Edinburgh

Oxford

Knightsbridge

Knightsbridge

New Bond Street

Edinburgh

New Bond Street

Oxford

Oxford

Knightsbridge

Knightsbridge

New Bond Street

Edinburgh

New Bond Street

CLOSING DATE

13 February

28 February

28 February

13 March

14 March

3 April

11 April

7 April

28 May

10 September

7 September

9 September

9 September

18 September

9 October

AUSTRIAVienna+43 1 403 00 01vienna@bonhams.com

BELGIUMBrussels+32 273 65076belgium@bonhams.com

FRANCEParis+33 1 42 61 10 10paris@bonhams.com

GERMANYCologne+49 221 2779 9650cologne@bonhams.com

Munich+49 89 24 205 812munich@bonhams.com

IRELANDDublin+353 (0)1 602 0990ireland@bonhams.com ITALYRome+39 06 485 900rome@bonhams.com

Milan+39 02 4953 9020milan@bonhams.com

NETHERLANDSAmsterdam+31 20 670 9701amsterdam@bonhams.com

PORTUGALLisbon+351 91 921 4778lisbon@bonhams.com

RUSSIAMoscow+7 964 562 3845russia@bonhams.com

St Petersburg+7 921 555 2302russia@bonhams.com

SPAINMadrid+34 91 578 1727madrid@bonhams.com

SWITZERLANDGeneva+41 22 300 3160geneva@bonhams.com

USANew York+1 212 644 9001us@bonhams.com

INTERNATIONAL OFFICES

CERAMICS & GLASS DEPARTMENTNew Bond Street, London

John SandonHead of Department+44 (0) 207 468 8244john.sandon@bonhams.com

Fergus GambonDirector, British Ceramics+44 (0) 207 468 8245fergus.gambon@bonhams.com Simon CottleDirector, Glass+44 (0) 207 468 8383simon.cottle@bonhams.com James PeakeGlass+44 (0) 207 468 8347james.peake@bonhams.com

Sebastian KuhnDirector, European Ceramics+44 (0) 207 468 8384sebastian.kuhn@bonhams.com

Nette MegensEuropean Ceramics+44 (0) 207 468 8348nette.megens@bonhams.com

Sophie von der GoltzEuropean Ceramics+44 (0) 207 468 8349sophie.vondergoltz@bonhams.com

Department AdministratorVanessa Howson+44 (0) 207 468 8243

GENERAL ENQUIRIESporcelain@bonhams.comglass@bonhams.com

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Bonhams101 New Bond Street London W1S 1SR

International Auctioneers and Valuers – bonhams.comPrices shown include buyer’s premium. Details can be found at bonhams.com