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Sale Total £287,510 GB Pounds

The second sale of the year is larger than the May one as Christie's have assembled a bigger variety, and also more substantial pieces. The sale starts with a vast section of the Artist in Industry ware, 115 lots, so the actual Clarice Cliff section will probably not start until 11.30 at the earliest ~ it has over 300 lots.

LAST MINUTE ENTRIES :

We can reveal that a part Appliqué Lugano Conical  coffeeset has been entered! In the blue colourway, this will be an exciting lot to watch. There is also an Orange House Doverpot. But apart from the ‘sensational’ pieces, there are many good lots. Inspiration ware has for a few years cost slightly less than the same shape in a strong abstract or landscape design and the sale has some examples that may prove good ‘buys’. These include a 10-inch Lotus jug in Inspiration Aster.

RARITIES:

An interesting rarity is a shape 366 vase in a new design we have called Layer Lines. A Gardenia Stamford teapot has the Fantasque range name hand-painted above the standard backstamp. Rarely seen, this was added by the paintress, who has been identified as Kathy Keeling by her ‘K’ initial. A Double Bon Jour candlestick, a shape only sold in small quantities from 1933 to 1936, is in the rare 1933 Oasis. Another rarity is a Xavier 392 candlestick, one of the last full abstract designs produced by Clarice in 1932. A design not often seen is Latona Garden on a 342 vase, it was catalogued by the CCCC in the Review in October 1998.

MAJOR LOTS :

These include a rare Orange House complete Conical coffee set, which has orange banding rather than the standard green, so was probably a sample or ‘special order’ for a customer. There is an Appliqué Idyll 13-inch plaque, an example as it first appeared in the Appliqué range with black, red, black banding. Very attractive are a pair of Football 392 candlesticks ~ few original pairs survive in abstract designs and these have the decorator’s initial ‘N’, possibly for Nancy Liversage. 

Other stunning pieces we noted included an Appliqué Lugano Isis vase, a Laughing Cat pencil holder, an unusual Cress and Stand set in Carpet, and a Yo Yo vase in Inspiration Lily.

The sale is a first in that Christie’s have assembled a major selection of Artist in Industry ware. This 1932 to 1936 project was designed to link fine art with industrial design. Clarice was chosen to interpret and produce the earthenware examples at Wilkinson’s and Thomas Acland Fennemore, art director of china manufacturer’s E. Brain, supervised their pieces, marketed as Foley China.

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The sale is a first in that Christie’s have assembled a major selection of Artist in Industry ware.		This 1932 to 1936 project was designed to link fine art with industrial design.

The first group of artists included Graham Sutherland, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, John Armstrong, Angelica Bell, Barbara Hepworth, Paul Nash and Ben Nicholson. They designed patterns for dinner and tea sets, issued in editions of twelve, marked ‘First Edition’. Launched at British Industrial Art in Relation to the Home in London, which was opened on 20 June 1933 by HRH Prince George, it had a mixed response.

When the project continued Colley Shorter and Gordon Forsyth added further artists including Freda Beardmore, Eva Crofts, John Everitt, Laura Knight, Ann Riach, Billie Waters, and Gordon Forsyth and his daughter Moira contributed. Christie’s have some major pieces by Laura Knight including a pair of the lampbases, the superb teapot, plus some original artwork. The sale also has pieces by several of the other major artists. Notable is the Bon Jour coffee set in a Billie Waters design in vibrant colours not unlike Clarice’s work

Take at least THREE hours to view, or during the sale when a ‘bargain’ goes through, you may think ’why did I not see that?’ ! Make a ‘bidding plan’ and stick to it, your favourite piece is PROBABLY the favourite of at least 10 other bidders, so check many pieces, research rarity and value, and you might get a bargain. There are always ‘good buys’ !