Recent Acquisitions
On this page you'll find my latest acquisitions, It may, however, take some time for all objects to load.
This way you can quickly browse through my recently acquired objects without having to browse through all the various categories.
After four weeks each object in 'Recent Acquisitions' will be moved to their specific category.
Latest update; April 18, 2018.
Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - 'Gold' Imari
Object 2012143
Teacup and saucer
Japan
1710-1715
Height of teacup 39 mm (1.53 inch), diameter of rim 73 mm (2.87 inch), diameter of footring 29 mm (1.14 inch), weight 42 grams (1.48 ounce (oz.))
Height of saucer 38 mm (1.50 inch), diameter of rim 116 mm (4.57 inch), diameter of footring 62 mm or (2.44 inch), weight 91 grams (3.21 ounce (oz.))
Teacup on footring and saucer on a wide flat unglazed footring with three small outward turned tapering feet ending in a globule, lobed sides and everted fluted rims. 'Gold' Imari, decorated in gold, iron-red and a light-pinkish gold wash with a single flower spray on the sides and reserves filled with flowering plants alternating with a pagoda near a pine tree in a mountainous landscape. The reverse is undecorated. The teacup is decorated en suite.
The saucer with small feet is very unusual. Apparently, no other published examples are known, which makes this an extremely rare set. At first it was considered that the saucer might in fact have been a leak tray for a milk jug or a small teapot and that the teacup together with a matching saucer, without three small feet, once belonged to the same tea service.
Delving some more into the occurrence of ‘small feet’ in Japanese porcelain, various larger Japanese porcelain objects came to light with all kinds of differently shaped feet or legs. Recorded in literature are items such as kakiemon incense burners (koro) (Impey 2002, cat. 272; Ayers, Impey & Mallet 1990, cat. 104; Arts 1983, cat. 35), Imari boxes with covers (Jörg 2003/1 cat. 103, 105, 106; Arita 2000, cat. 216) [, a blue and white tripod dish (Kyushu 1998, p.53, cat. 84) and even larger and rare milk bowls, probably made after European earthenware models (Jörg 2003/1, cat. 212/213; Arita 2000, cat. 123 t/m 125).
More comparable because of its small size is an odd Ko-Imari pouring vessel with gilded handles and tripod feet in the collection of Burghley House (The Burghley Porcelains ,1986, p. 264, cat. 116)
However, even more interesting for comparison is a kakiemon saucer (diameter 124 mm (4.88 inch)) with three bracket-feet, which was surely at one time accompanied by a matching cup. When discussing this saucer Impey states that while larger pieces with bracket-feet are well known, they are very rare in this small size (Impey 2002, p. 166 cat. 255; The Burghley Porcelains, 1986, p. 258 cat. 112).
Another kakiemon tripod saucer dish (diameter 145 mm (5.70 inch)) with outward turned feet which resemble the ones on this set very closely, can be found at McPherson Antiques, London, sold stock number 23696.
Unexpectedly, two other 'Gold' Imari teacups and tripod saucers came to light, both decorated with the well-known quail pattern, clearly proving that this set doesn’t stand on its own but has other counterparts, rare as they may be. These three sets, all yet to be published, are part of two distinguished British private collections. Two of these sets may be shown here for comparison.
Two Japanese 'Gold' Imari teacups with legged saucers, c. 1710-1720, private British collection (not included in this sale).
These unusual and very rare sets must have been part of a private order, made in small series, most likely by a specialised kiln.
Condition:
Teacup: Perfect.
Saucer: Two tiny fleabites to the rim.
References:
The Burghley House Porcelains 1986, cat. 112 & 116
Ayers, Impey & Mallet 1990 , cat.104
Arita 2000, cat.123 t/m 125, cat. 216
Jörg 2003/1, cat. 103, 105/106, 212/213
McPherson Antiques, London, sold stock number 23696.
Price: Sold.
Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Dishes
Object 2012161
Dish
Japan
1660-1690
Height 33 mm (1.30 inch), diameter of rim 216 mm (8.50 inch), diameter of footring 109 mm (4.29 inch), weight 413 grams (14.57 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, flat rim. Four spur-marks in a Y-pattern on the base. Decorated in underglaze blue with two Hoo-o birds, one perched on pierced rockwork amongst fruiting peach and camellia, the other in flight above. The sides and rim in kraak style with six wide panels (fuyõ-de) filled with bamboo, peony and prunus, separated from each other by narrow panels filled with scrolls in blue on blue. The reverse is undecorated.
Dishes with this border design are also known with the VOC initials. They were probably ordered by the High Government from 1668 when it started to require porcelain for Batavia. An armorial decorated dish dated c.1667 has a similar border design and dates the style of the border. (Jörg 2003/1, pp.225-226 & p.230), (Antonin & Suebsman 2009, pp.224-225)
For identically decorated dishes, please see:
- Japans porselein met blauwe decoraties uit de tweede helft van de zeventiende en de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw. (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer in Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 64/65, 1971), p.57, cat. 19.
- Oriental Ceramics at the Cape of Good Hope 1652-1795. An account of the porcelain trade of the Dutch East India Company with particular reference to ceramics with the V.O.C. monogram, the Cape Market and South African Collections, (C.S. Woodward, Cape Town & Rotterdam, 1974), p.54, cat. 84.
- H.A. Daendels, Catalogus tentoonstelling Japans blauw wit Porselein. Op Hollandse bestelling en in de Japanse smaak, exhibition catalogue Gemeentelijk Museum Het Princessehof, Leeuwarden 1981. Also Published as Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 101/102, p.41, cat. 25.
- Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu 2003), p.332, cat. 2495.
For other dishes with the same central design but with other sides and rim decorations, please see:
Condition: Some fine crazing to the glaze and a firing flaw to the glaze in the centre.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1971, cat. 19
Woodward 1974, cat. 84, 86 & 87
Jörg 2003/1, cat. 285, 286 & 291
Antonin & Suebsman 2009, cat. 91
Price: € 249 - $ 308 - £ 215
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Chinese wares over-decorated in the West 1700-1800 - English over-decorated Clobbered wares - Page 1
Object 2012125
Teapot stand / Patty pan
China
1730-1740, over-decorated in London England c.1755-1765, possibly by James Giles or his workshop.
Provenance: The Geoffrey Godden Personal Collection.
Height 18 mm (0.71 inch), dimensions rim 130 mm (5.12 inch) x 123 mm (4.84 inch), dimensions base 100 mm (3.94 inch) x 90 mm (3.54 inch), weight 108 grams (3.81 ounce (oz.))
Teapot stand or patty pan with everted scalloped sides and an unglazed base. Decorated with carved (anhua) radiating opnened flower head leaf-shaped panels, filled with radiating lines. Over-decorated in England c.1755-1765, with iron-red and various other enamel colours with a butterfly, a caterpillar and various scattered European flowers. The rim in overglaze (dark) brown. On the side a rectangular paper collectors label that reads; 'Geoffrey Godden Personal 4/96' and on the base, a circular paper dealers label that reads; 'STOCKSPRING ANTIQUES Early James Gilles 48' and another rectangular yellow paper label that reads; 'G 17'.
As early as 1728 the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC), "Dagh-registers" state that its ship 'Coxhorn' that left Amsterdam in 1728 with destination China, returned to the Netherlands on June 13th, 1730, fully loaded with tea and porcelain, among its cargo were, for instance, 810 tea pots, 251 pairs of small covered sugar-boxes and 600 pattipans. A pattipan was used to protect the surface of luxurious lacquer or painted tea tables, against the influence of a hot teapot or drops running from its spout. If, in certain circles, a special tea table was not at hand it served to protect the furniture or its valuable table-cloth from tea spots. The Dutch word pattipan is most likely derived from the English word patty pan meaning a pastry mould for little pies or pastries. These patty pans were very similar, in shape and size, to our pattipannen. (Volker 1959), (Kleyn 1980, pp. 253-261)
These subtle anhua 'secret' carved Chinese decoration was too sophisticated for European taste and numerous bowls, plates cups and saucers with this minimal decoration provided a challenge as well as an opportunity to the European decorators. (Espir 2005, pp.66-67)
In the eyes of some scholars and collectors of both Chinese and European porcelains, Chinese export porcelains decorated in Europe are a chinoiserie hybrid. Thanks to this prejudice, such wares have been long overlooked and frequently denigrated with the term clobbered. In the late 19th century European decorated oriental porcelain was called 'clobbered', a word that came into the English language in the mid-19th century meaning as a noun, 'a black paste used by clobbers to fill up and conceal cracks in leather', and as a verb, 'to patch up, to cobble'. Later it was applied to old clothes meaning 'to renovate' and by the 19th century it was it was applied to porcelain. In 1900, F.Litchfield stated, 'There is a description of Chinese known as clobbered .... overpainted with ....ornament ..... sold for decorated oriental China.' It was a derogatory term meaning that the European decorator had plastered his style of decoration all over the pot with total disregard for the original which was the case in much Chinese blue-and-white over-decorated in the early 19th century and which are to blame for the poor reputation of these wares ever since. (Espir 2005, p.75), (Sargent 2012, p.499)
The lack of documentation and the decorators' anonymity-plus, admittedly, the lesser abilities of some independent decorators-have increased mainstream collectors' distancing from these wares. A commentator referred to such pieces as 'inoffensive, at worst a ruinous clobber', and observed that 'the Dutch in particular seem to have been firmly of the opinion that tuppence coloured was better than penny plain, and they suited the action to the word'. The term over-decorated may suggest that too much decoration was used, making it an unsatisfactory term. Over-decorated, clobbered, embellished ... none of these terms readily describes these wares. Many extremely fine European decorators used Chinese porcelains as their 'canvas', however, and it is only recently, with the work of Helen Espir, that these wares and their decorators have received their due.
In England 'China painters' (as they were sometimes identified) included James Gilles (or Gilles), Sr., and one known only as Campman, both of whom were working in 1723. Between 1756 and 1775, both Giles's son James (1718-1780), who worked on porcelain and glass and Jefferyes Hammett O'Neale (1724-1801), who was associated with fable painting, were well-known London decorators associated with the Worcester factory. (Sargent 2012, pp.499-500)
Till now the earliest known documentary evidence of London 'china painters' is in the 1723 Probate Inventory of Henry Akerman, a London shopkeeper selling chinaware, glassware, stoneware and tin-glazed ware, where debts are recorded to 'Gilles China Painter' and 'Campman China painter'. Giles must be James Gilis senior, who was recorded as a 'china painter' of St Giles in the Fields in 1729 when his eldest son Abraham was apprenticed to Philip Margas, another well-known 'chinaman'. Giles' brother in law was Francis bacon also of St Giles in the Fields, who was described in his will in 1737 as 'china painter', who authenticated Giles' handwriting in his Will, stating that he had 'worked with him (Giles) as a servant in his of business for some years'.... 'and to the time of his death' in 1741, was probably the son of Francis Bacon and nephew of Gilis. Giles' younger son James (1718-1780) was to have a distinguished career as a porcelain retailer and decorator from the 1750s to the 1770s. (Espir 2005, pp.213-215)
On his website www.orientalceramics.com, Robert McPherson states that this type of English enamel decoration on Chinese export porcelain should be seen in a different way to what is referred to as `over-decorated` or `clobbered` porcelain. Those terms refer to Chinese porcelain that was imported into Europe as finished articles but were either too plain for merchants to sell or their profits could be enhanced by adding enamels over the existing Chinese decoration. The present example was plain white when it arrived in England, it would not have been saleable and so no merchant would have ordered it to retail. However, James Giles must have ordered allot of white porcelain specifically for decoration at his workshop in London. The shapes ordered were the lasted fashion in Europe as was the decoration he added. To my mind this makes these objects separate and distinct from other Chinese porcelain, China only provided the blank `canvas` and even that was of a form dictated to by Europe. For this reason, these objects could primarily be seen as English, they would have been totally alien to the Chinese. (www.orientalceramics.com)
Geoffrey Godden was an author, historian, collector and dealer; but to the public he was best known for his expert valuations of fine – and not-so-fine – china on BBC Television’s Antiques Roadshow.
Godden called himself a “Chinaman” – an 18th-century term for a dealer in ceramics – and over five decades created a body of reference works that has added greatly to our knowledge of the medium. He insisted, however, that ceramics should be picked up and inspected. “You have to handle and view pieces closely,” Godden said. “Possession is almost vital to understanding.”
He published some 30 books which produced a detailed survey of English porcelain makers, from Bow, Chelsea and Derby, to Lowestoft, Liverpool and Worcester. He also wrote widely on porcelain produced outside Britain.
All of his writing, he observed, aimed to “open the reader’s eyes to the pleasures that await an inquisitive collector”. So prolific was his output that his Antiques Roadshow colleague Henry Sandon nicknamed him the “Barbara Cartland of Ceramics”.
Geoffrey Arthur Godden was born on February 2, 1929 at Worthing to Leslie Godden, an antiques dealer, and his wife Molly. After leaving Worthing High School, Geoffrey joined the family antiques business, Godden of Worthing (founded in 1900 by Geoffrey’s grandfather, Arthur).
He spent part of his teenage years packing and exporting antiques to the United States to raise funds for the war effort. He also caught the collecting bug. “I just naturally began to purchase – with my modest pocket-money – broken specimens of attractive 18th-century porcelain as others of my age might have spent their allowance saving for a new bike or model train,” he recalled.
Called up for National Service in 1947, Godden served in the Hampshire Regiment at Winchester, the Royal Sussex Regiment and finally the Queen’s own Royal West Kent Regiment at Shornecliffe.
When he was demobbed, he re-joined the family firm, specialising in 18th and 19th-century English ceramics, a radical departure from the company’s focus on furniture.
Every book I and other experts take to every roadshow was written by Geoffrey Godden. John Sandon
Having been told by his father that “if you want to know about something, write a book on it”, he published his first volume, Victorian Porcelain, in 1961. His Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pottery and Porcelain (1966) followed; it was subsequently chosen by Derek Nimmo as his book on Desert Island Discs.
Godden’s first love was Lowestoft porcelain, which had been readily available and inexpensive during the 1940s. He was drawn to these wares by their honest, anglicised interpretation of Chinese ceramic designs, often painted by women and children. “There is a homely quality to English blue and white,” he noted. In 1969 he published The Illustrated Guide to Lowestoft Porcelain (revised in 1985).
Over the following decades Godden produced countless books, often focusing on individual factories, as with Minton Pottery & Porcelain of the First Period (1968); others examined decoration – Godden’s Guide to English Blue and White (2004) – and centres of production, such as Chinese Export Market Porcelain (1979). Enthusiasts refer to his 750-page Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks (1964, and still in print) as “the bible”.
When signing books Godden would add “Have Fun” or “A Trifle from Worthing”, the latter mimicking the rare “Trifle from Lowestoft” inscriptions found on some porcelains. He joked that unsigned copies of his books were much rarer, given the specialist nature of the work.
By the 1970s, Godden was appearing on the antiques quiz show Going For A Song with Arthur Negus and, in the 1990s and early 2000s, was a regular contributor to Antiques Roadshow as a member of its ceramics team.
On one roadshow Godden and John Sandon (the son of Henry Sandon and a director at Bonhams) were sharing a table when a woman unpacked a china tea set. Godden informed her that it was made in the 1870s. “No, you’re wrong”, she insisted, “it’s a hundred years older than that, can’t you check in those books the other experts are using? They must be written by real experts.” “I couldn’t help bursting out laughing,” Sandon recalled. “Every book I and other experts take to every roadshow was written by Geoffrey Godden.”
Godden lectured extensively in Britain and abroad, was president of the Northern Ceramics Society (2000-12) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.
Despite the lack of any formal training, Godden was a great educator. At home in Worthing he became a mentor to younger experts, giving seminars and hosting study weekends.
In his youth, Godden was a keen angler, representing Worthing Sea Anglers in national competitions. Later, he developed an interest in bowls, playing at the Worthing Bowling Club at Beach House Park. In 1988 he published his Beginner’s Guide To Bowls and would ruefully explain to ceramics audiences that this was his most popular book.
In 1964 Godden married Jean Magness, whose parents were market gardeners in Worthing and suppliers of strawberries to George VI. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their son.
Geoffrey Godden, born February 2, 1929, died May 10, 2016.
(source: www.telegraph.co.uk)
Condition: Some wear to the enamels, popped bubbles of glaze, caused by the firing process, and a tiny fleabite to rim.
References:
Price: € 499 - $ 615 - £ 443
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Chinese Imari 1700-1800 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares
Object 2010100H
Saucer
China
1720-1740
Height 19 mm (0.75 inch), diameter of rim 101 mm (3.98 inch), diameter of footring 56 mm (2.20 inch), ), weight 59 grams (2.08 ounce (oz.))
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Chinese Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, overglaze iron-red and gold with flowering chrysanthemum and peony plants growing from a taihu (garden) rock and flanked by butterflies in flight. In the centre two crossed (bamboo/) reeds tied together in the middle. On the reverse two flower sprays.
The striking distinctive feature of the crossed reed is probably the Chinese decorators interpretation of Japanese zig-zag plank bridges (yatsuhashi) a decorating feature often seen on Japanese Imari porcelain. In his book Fine & Curious (page 182, cat. 224a) Jörg shows an early 18th century Japanese Imari decorated saucer from the collection of Oriental ceramics from the Groninger Museum which is very similarly decorated.
Reproduced from: Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2003), p.182, cat. 224a. (copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by the publisher or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved)
Condition: Some tiny fleebites to the rim.
Price: Sold.
Japanese wares over-decorated in the West 18th Century - Dutch over-decorated Amsterdams Bont - Page 1
Object 2012144
Saucer
Japan
c.1700, over-decorated in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont,c.1750-1770
Height 20 mm (0.79 inch), diameter of rim 115 mm (4.53 inch), diameter of footring 52 mm (2.05 inch), weight 85 grams (3.00 ounce (oz.))
Saucer on footring, flat rim. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, overglaze green, yellow and black enamel and gold with flowering plants and a bird in flight. On the rim three florets between scrolls alternating with a bird in flight, over-decorated in iron-red in The Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont c.1750-1770 outlining all birds, the central florets and the original undecorated reverse with four good fortune Buddhist symbols.
The demand for Japanese porcelain was strong but production was restricted so here was a gap in the market that the enameller could fill most profitably by giving Chinese porcelain a Japanese look. The simplest way of transferring Chinese porcelain into 'Japanese' was to enhance Chinese blue and white porcelain with iron-red and gold to create the appearance of Imari. For European decorated oriental porcelain mostly Chinese export porcelain objects were used. Only a small proportion were Japanese. (Espir 2005, p.74)
Condition: Perfect.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Chine de commande - Armorial / Pseudo-Armorial wares 1700-1800 - Pseudo-Armorial - Page 1
Object 2012142
Saucer
China
c.1800
Height 28 mm (1.10 inch), diameter of rim 128 mm (5.04 inch), diameter of footring 75 mm (2.95 inch), weight 81 grams (2.86 ounce (oz.))
Saucer on footring, straight rim. Decorated in various overglaze enamels and gold with the crest and moto of Robertson, A dexterhand erect holding in the hand an imperial crown all proper, with the motto 'Virtutis Gloria merces' (Glory is the reward of valour). Beneath the shield, on which are the initials C.R., the figure of a wild man in chains proper. Round the rim an ornamental border. The reverse is undecorated.
This service is one of a number made for the family of Robertson of Struan (which family bore on a compartment beneath their arms a wild man in chains commemorating the capture of the murderer of King James I of Scotland in 1437 by the 4th Chief of the Clan. Four earlier services are illustrated in this volume (F4, V8, V14 and V17) which give detail of the family in the second half of the 18th Century, but although there is more than one Charles Robertson in earlier generations, and younger sons are mentioned in published records, there is no obvious owner of this service. The border design is, however, exactly as the Hon. East India Company service (Volume I, W12) which was delivered to the Governors of all the principal East India Stations in India at this time, and it would seem quite possible that the service was carried by Captain Thomas Robertson who commanded East Indiamen at Canton in 1797, 1800 and 1802 (although his crest is not recorded. (Howard 2003, p.656)
For a small cup/mug from the same service, please see:
The Robertsons claim to be descended from Crinan, Lord of Atholl, from whom sprang the royal house of Duncan I, the King of the Scots. The Robertson clan is more properly called ‘Clan Donnachaidh’ from their ancestor Duncan, who was a staunch supporter of Robert the Bruce, and who led the Clan at the Battle of Bannockburn.
The general surname of the clan Robertson was taken from Robert Riach (Grizzled Robert) the clan chief, who was known for his intense loyalty to the Stewarts. Riach was responsible for capturing the murderers of King James I, and was rewarded by the crown for this act by having his lands at Struan erected into a Barony.
Robert Riach (source: www.scotclans.com)
The clan was also granted a symbolic memorial by additions to their coat of arms – subsequently the chief of clan Robertson bore as his crest a hand holding an imperial royal crown, and underneath a man in chains, representing the regicide. About a century later, the Robertson family lost the lands of Struan to the Earl of Atholl but the family regained them in 1606.
However in the seventeenth century, after the final defeat of James VII, all Robertson estates were forfeited and the chief of the Robertson clan joined the exiled court in France. To this day the chiefs of the clan Robertson still have the right and privilege of interment in the family burial ground at Struan. (source: www.scotclans.com)
For more information on the Clan Robertson (Clan Donnachaidh), please click here.
Condition: Three hairlines to the rim.
References:
Price: € 499 - $ 617 - £ 435
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Dishes
Object 2012156
Dish
Japan
1680-1700
Height: 59 mm (2.32 inch), diameter of rim 310 mm (12.20 inch), diameter of footring 160 mm (6.30 inch), weight 1,113 grams (39.26 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, straight rim with a scalloped edge. On the base two spur-marks. Decorated in underglaze blue with a flower basket on a low table on a fenced terrace filled with a flowering peony plant. The sides with a continuous floral scroll pattern. The reverse with a foliate scroll.
In Japan porcelain is being produced since c.1600. Due to the internal conflicts in China during the second half of the 17th century kilns were destroyed, the porcelain production staggered and supply routes were cut off. In order to keep up with the ever-growing demand for porcelain from the homeland the VOC, switched to Decima, Japan. Since 1641 a Dutch trading post was based on this artificial Island in the Bay of Nagasaki. With expanding Japanese production due to Dutch demand the decorative elements, the designs and the more freely way in which they were applied by the porcelain decorators became more Japanese. It marked a clear change from the traditional Japanese interpretation of Chinese kraak designs. The powerful centre design border design on this dish are good examples of that change. (Jörg 2003/1, p.260)
The border design on this dish is usually dated to the late 17th century. (Jörg 2003/1, p.136, cat.145)
For dishes with similarly decorated sides and similarly shaped edges, please see:
- Japans porselein met blauwe decoraties uit de tweede helft van de zeventiende en de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw. (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer in Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 64/65, 1971), p.61, cat. 29.
- H.A. Daendels, Catalogus tentoonstelling Japans blauw wit Porselein. Op Hollandse bestelling en in de Japanse smaak, exhibition catalogue Gemeentelijk Museum Het Princessehof, Leeuwarden 1981. Also Published as Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 101/102, p.44, cat. 38.
- The Wrestling Boys. Chinese and Japanese Ceramics from the 16th to the 18th Century in the Collection at Burghley House, (The Trustees of Burghley House, Stamford 1981), p.1, cat. 2.
- Hizen wares abroad, The 10th anniversary special exhibition, (Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 1990), p.42, cat. 41 and p.43, cat. 42.
- The Shibata Collection Part I, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 1990), p.144, cat. 367.
- Ko-Imari from the collection of Oliver Impey, (Barry Davies Oriental Art, London, 1997), pp. 118-119, cat. 62.
- Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2003), pp.136-137, cat. 145, 146 & 147.
- Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu 2003), p.298, cat. 2321.
Object 2011805 a similarly decorated dish with the typical Chinese Kraak style panelled border.
Condition: A firing flaw, two frits and three chips to the rim.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1971, cat. 29
Jörg 2003/1, p.136 & p.260, cat. 145, 146 & 147
Price: € 499 - $ 615 - £ 434
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800
Object 2012140
Chamber-pot
Japan
c.1700
Height 60 mm (2.36 inch), diameter of mouthrim 78 mm (3.07 inch), diameter of footring 41 mm (1.61 inch), weight 119 grams (4.20 ounce (oz.))
Exhibited: 'Japanes porselein uit Nederlandse collecties', (Japanese export porcelain in Dutch collections) held at the Groninger Museum from 4 June - 10 September 2000.
Small chamber-pot on footring, spreading rim, curved handle with thumb-rest. Decorated in red, green, black and aubergine enamels and gold with two groups of flowering gardenias growing from rockwork. Round the foot two red lines, on the inside of the rim a karakusa scroll partly in red, partly outlined in red, and divided by single flowers. On the handle a floret between scrolls.
From June 4th to September 10th 2000 the exhibition 'Japanes porselein uit Nederlandse collecties', (Japanese export porcelain in Dutch collections) held at the Groninger Museum. The exhibition formed part of the many activities in The Netherlands in that year celebrating the 400th anniversary of Dutch-Japanese relations. This chamber-pot was one the objects on display at the exhibition and was described by Jörg in his book Fine & Curious on page165, catalogue number 191.
For an another indentically shaped, sized and decorated chamber-pot for sale, please see:
Jörg also shows a similarly sized and decorated cuspidor. (Jörg 2003/1, p.166, cat. 193)
For a slightly larger chamber-pot decorated in underglaze blue, please see:
The use of this small chamber-pot is unknown. It is too large to be placed in a doll's house. In general, miniatures were included in groups of decorative porcelain placed on shelves, brackets and consoles in the Dutch interior, or in the porcelain rooms of the grand houses such as those still in Pommersfelden and Charlottenburg, Germany. Similar miniature objects were also made of silver and glass, and the pieces of Japanese (and Chinese) porcelain fit into the general trend. (Jörg 2003/1, p.190)
Condition: Firing flaws to the rim and the footring, a popped bubble of glaze, a glaze rough spot and a frit and chip to rim.
References:
Jörg 2003/1, p.166, p.190, cat.191 & 193
Price: Sold.
Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Vases
Object 2010261
Small vase
China
1700-1720
Height 70 mm (2.76 inch), diameter 42 mm (1.65 inch), diameter of mouthrim 16 mm (0.63 inch), diameter of footring 28 mm (1.10 inch), weight 57 grams (2.01 ounce (oz.))
Small vase on footring. Rim unglazed inside for cover, now missing. Decorated in underglaze blue with a trellis pattern border around the foot, on the body six panels filled with flowering plants growing from rockwork and a single bird perched or in flight. Round the neck a ascending pointed lotus leaves-pattern border and round the rim a zig-zag lines pattern border. Marked on the base with the single character mark: Yu, (Jade (Yuan to Qing)), underglaze blue. The vase stands crooked due to the firing process.
The Yu, 'jade', character mark is traditionally called the 'F-mark' in the Netherlands and is very common on good-quality blue-and-white Kangxi export porcelain. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.115)
Condition: A Y-shaped hairline to the rimand two glaze frits to the waist rib.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 116
Price: € 249 - $ 309- £ 222
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on their exchange rate to the € price)
Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - Imari with no Underglaze Blue, Iron-red and Gold only
Object 2011462
Teapot
Japan
1680-1700
Height with cover 97 mm (3.82 inch), height without cover 77 mm (3.03 inch), diameter ear to spout 144 mm (5.67 inch), diameter of mouthrim 36 mm (1.42 inch), diameter of footring 40 mm (1.58 inch), weight with cover 160 grams (5.64 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 15 grams (0.53 ounce (oz.))
Teapot on footring. Slightly bent spout, C-shaped handle. Domed cover with a round knob. Decorated in iron-red, pink wash and gold with on one side flowering peony plants and on the other side flowering chrysanthemum plants. On the shoulder a border of chrysanthemum petals in low relief alternately decorated with iron-red, pink wash and a floret, around the neck a pointed leaves pattern border. On the cover similar chrysanthemum petals in low relief. The handle and spout with florets between scrolls.
In category 36 'Coloured Imari with no underglaze blue, iron-red and gold only' of his Japanese export porcelain, Impey states that the implication of this singular restriction of palette, without the use of underglaze blue, is that these may be the product of a single enamelling workshop, but may or may not be the product of a single kiln. The restriction is probably one of choice, for it would hardly be cheaper, if at all, to use a wider range of enamels, and no cheaper to use underglaze blue. (Impey 2002, pp.220-221)
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated, sold, teapot, please see:
Condition: A firing flaw to the underside and a hairline to the upper side of the tip of the spout. A chip to the underside of the cover and a glaze chip with connected hairline to the inside of the rim of the cover.
Reference:
Price: € 749 - $ 920 - £ 665
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Shipwreck Porcelains - The Vung Tau Cargo, c.1690
Object 2012137
Cup
China
c.1690
Provenance: The Vung Tau Cargo. Chinese Export Porcelain sale, Christie's Amsterdam, 7-8 April 1992.
Height 41 mm (1.61 inch), diameter of rim 75 mm (2.95 inch), diameter of footring 28 mm (1.10 inch), weight 52 grams (1.83 ounce (oz.))
A Fujian, of blanc-de-Chine porcelain, small cup on a low footring with spreading sides and a flaring rim. On the cup the original Christie's 'Vung Tau Cargo' sale lot label proving it has been one of 100 small cups sold in lot 510. (Amsterdam 1992, pp.65-66)
The Vung Tau Wreck was discovered by fishermen of the islands of Con Dao in the south of Vietnam.
Sverker Hallstrom obtained the license to excavate the wreck after the Vietnam Salvage Corporation
(Visal) had carried out preliminary excavation. The starboard side of the hull, from the keel to the
waterline, remained in good condition. It was found to be the hull of a lorcha, a ship of combined
Eastern and Western influence, and the first ever found. The wreck has been dated to c.1690.
From an analysis of the cargo it seems that the ship was bound from China to Batavia where the
bulk of the ceramics would have been transhipped to a Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde
Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) vessel for the onward voyage to Holland.
The porcelain was destined for a port where it would have been transhipped onto a VOC vessel for the
onward voyage to Holland. The other goods were to supply the Chinese community at the same port. That port was Batavia. Christie's Amsterdam auctioned the porcelain cargo in April 1992.
Until recently, all unpainted, white pieces with a creamy, smooth glaze that is well fused with the body, were named blanc-de-Chine and supposed to have been made in the kilns of Dehua in Fujian province. The figures of Guanyin, of immortals, sages and others were highly appreciated in the West, in particular for adorning the interior. As the Hatcher wreck has shown, figurines and other blanc-de-Chine wares were already part of the export assortment in the mid-17th century, while English East India Company papers document their popularity in Europe around 1700. Such pieces fitted excellently into the demand for curious, new and exotic pieces, and for rarities and thus delivered good profits to their importers. Gradually, however, more information has become available about the complexity of the Dehua production, the many kilns that produced these wares in a wide area around Dehua, the differences in quality and the imitations made elsewhere. The Vung Tau cargo has simply added another piece or two to the puzzle, making us realise once again that blanc de Chine is only a very generic name and that. in fact, we know little about these wares. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, p.85)
Two varieties of blanc-de-Chine cups, one in two sizes the other in three all undecorated, were salvaged, which were most likely teacups,
The first variety is small on a low footring, has spreading sides and a flaring rim
The first type of this first variety measures 60 mm (2.36 inch) in diameter and 35 mm (1.37 inch) in height, in total only 108 of these 60 mm (2.36 inch) small (tea)cups were sold divided over the lots; 508 (60 items) and 509 (48 items). For an example of this (tea)cup, please see:
The second type of this first variety measures 75 mm (2.95 inch) in diameter and 40 mm (1.57 inch) in height, in total only 385 of these 75 mm (2.95 inch) small (tea)cups were sold divided over the lots; 510 (100 items), 511 (100 items). 512 (100 items), 513 (60 items) and 514 (25 items). For an example of this (tea) cup, please see:
The second variety has a thick higher footring and is deeper with steep straight sides.
The first type of this second variety measures 70 mm (2.36 inch) in diameter and 50 mm (1.37 inch) in height, in total only 66 of these 70 mm (2.76 inch) small (tea)cups were sold divided over the lots; 506 (36 items) and 507 (30 items). For an example of this (tea)cup, please see:
The second type of the second variety measures 60 mm (2.36 inch) in diameter and 37 mm (1.37 inch) in height, in total only 302 of these 70 mm (2.76 inch) small (tea)cups were sold divided over the lots; 515 (100 items), 516 (100 items). 517 (60 items) and 518 (42 items). For an example of this (tea)cup, please see:
The third type of this second variety measures 45 mm (1.77 inch) in diameter and 25 mm (0.98 inch) in height, in total only 523 of these 45 mm (1.77 inch) small (tea)cups were sold divided over the lots; 519 (100 items), 520 (100 items). 521 (100 items), 522 (100 items), 523 (60 items), 524 (36 items) and 525 (27 items). For an example of this (tea)cup, please see:
Condition: Some firing flaws around the outer and inner footring.
References:
Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.66-67, p.85 & fig. 92
Price: € 299 - $ 371 - £ 264
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Kraak Porcelain wares 1570-1645 - Klapmutsen
Object 2012128
Klapmuts
China
1605-1650
Height 43 mm (1.69 inch), diameter of rim 104 mm (4.09 inch), diameter of footring 38 mm (1.49 inch), weight (including silver mount) 88 grams (3.10 ounce (oz.))
Klapmuts or bowl on footring, flat slightly upturned rim with a scalloped edge. Mounted with a mid-19th century Dutch silver handle (marked). Decorated in underglaze blue with flowering plants and rockwork in a central roundel. The sides with four oblong panels two filled with peach the other two with flowering peony. On the rim four large taotie monster masks, the narrow sections extend, without interruption, from the rim to centre medallion are filled with hanging ribbons. On the exterior wall four oval shaped medallions with four stylized flaming pearls, separated by narrower panels with lingzhi. On the exterior rim two elongated flowering stems. The footring has been pierced. The silver marks explained: a standing hamer flanked with the initials 'D H' for Daniël Jan de Haas (1821-1886) active as a sliversmith in Amsterdam (1854-1876). The sword mark was used (1814-1905) as the standard mark on articles too small for the full hallmarking
According to Rinaldi this klapmuts can be classified as a group V klapmuts. In these klapmutsen the rim is divided into four large and four narrow panels in the most typical kraak style The four large and slightly triangular panels are decorated with a monster mask, while the narrow sections extend, without interruption, from rim to centre medallion and are covered with a continuous design, usually a bow hanging from a ruyi head or a more elaborate motif. This group acquired its definitive stylistic shape around the fist years of the seventh century and continued to be produced in massive for the rest of the first half of the century. They are most common of all klapmutsen and were produced in almost all sizes. The mask is often referred to as taotie, on of the oldest symbols used in Chinese decoration. It was represented as early as the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100) BC on bronze and later on jade. There are many variations of the taotie mask, whose purpose was to ward off evil spirits. It is interesting to note that though referred to as a taotie, the representation on the klapmuts is, in fact, most unlike the traditional Chinese monster mask. Instead it has a definite resemblance to a gala, the mythological Indian glutton who was punished by having to eat his own body until only the mouth and upper part of the head and two tiny hands remain. (Rinaldi 1989, pp.129-133
A hole has been drilled in the very short footring in order to fit a wire through it - the traditional Dutch way to hang dishes on walls as display pieces. (Rinaldi 1989, p.137)
Condition: A few very tiny glaze fleabites to the rim.
Reference:
Rinaldi 1989, pp.129-133, p.137 & Pl. 139
Price: Sold.
Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers - Bloemaert, Abraham (1564-1651)
Object 2012136
Milk jug
China
1745-1750
Height 101 mm (3.98 inch), diameter of mouthrim 32 mm (1.26 inch), diameter of footring 39 mm (1.54 inch), weight 172 grams (6.07 ounce (oz.))
Milk jug on footring, pear shaped body with handle, small triangular spout at the rim. The handle is placed opposite the spout. The original cover is missing. Decorated en camaïeu with overglaze lilac pink enamels and gold with a fisherman standing at a riverbank near two large wicker baskets and a large tree, two birds in flight and in the background three houses. Round the shoulder a border of scale work and irregular panels supported by a peacock and garlands. On the handle scroll work in gold.
The decoration on this milk jug has been taken from a drawing titled 'Un pêcheur,' (The Fisherman) by Abraham Bloemaert (1564/66-1651), a Haarlem-born painter and printmaker, who specialized in historical subjects. Originally Bloemaert's design was engraved by his son Cornelis II (ca.1603-ca.1680), but the design on this milk jug has been reversed, which points to the idea that it was based instead on a later re-engraving, possibly a wood-cut published by the Dutch engraver Cornelis J. Visscher de Jonge (1629?-1658?).(Sargent 2012, p.252)
As a child, Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651) moved with his family from Gorinchem to Utrecht. He was apprenticed to no less than five different masters, among them his father Cornelis Bloemaert I. Having travelled to Paris and Amsterdam, in 1593 Bloemaert returned to Utrecht. There he was to remain for the rest of his life. Abraham Bloemaert acquired a name for his paintings of mythological and religious subjects. Bloemaert - a pious Catholic in the Protestant Northern Netherlands - received numerous commissions from the Catholic Church. Bloemaert’s early paintings feature the exaggerated, elongated and muscular figures of mannerist art. In the 1620s, when his career was at its height, his style began to change. Influenced by his pupils, including Gerard van Honthorst and Hendrick ter Bruggen, he painted a number of works in the Caravaggist manner.
The 'Un pêcheur' (The Fisherman) design occurs in many variations in border design, colour scheme and the way in which elements of the principal design are rendered. Other varieties show a mountainous landscape (probably a Chinese variation). (Jörg 1989/2, p.134)
A print by Cornelis J. Visscher de Jonge (1629?-58?), a Dutch engraver who based his design on a drawing by the Haarlem-born painter and printmaker Abraham Bloemaert (1564/66-1651). (Reproduced from: Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, (Uitgevermaatschappij De Tijdstroom BV, Lochem 1989), p.219, Afb. 193a.)
Lunsingh Scheurleer illustrates an engraving by Cornelis J. Visscher de Jonge, which is almost identical, on the porcelain the later added mountains in the background seem to have been evolved from the trees in the original print. The scene is recorded with at least three border decorations, the earliest with a diaper rim and Meissen-style cartouches of about 1736-38, and another about five years later with this type of rim en grisaille. A Delft faience example in blue is in the Musée de la Compagnie des Indes, Lorient, France. (Gordon 1977, p.76, cat 60), (Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, pp.369-370, cat. 362), (Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 193a ), (Sargent 2012, p.252)
Chine de commande objects decorated en camaïeu in overglaze lilac pink enamels are rare. (Jörg 1989/2, p.170)
For an identically in en camaïeu overglaze lilac pink enamels decorated, sold, teapot please see:
- Sold Ceramics - Sold Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Western Designers - Page 1 - Bloemaert, Abraham (1564-1651) - Object 2011935.
For early objects with the 'Un pêcheur' design with a diaper rim and Meissen-style cartouches decorated in various overglaze enamels and gold, please see:
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, W. de Haan, Hilversum, 1966), cat. 197.
- Chinese export porcelain. Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, London, 1974), English translation of the Dutch edition, Hilversum 1966, cat. 206.
- Collecting Chinese Export Porcelain, (E. Gordon, Universe Books, New York, 1977), p. 76, cat 60.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), pp.66-67, cat. 3.8.
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, (Uitgevermaatschappij De Tijdstroom BV, Lochem 1989), p.219, cat. 193a & b.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.134-135, cat 43.
- Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, (W.R. Sargent, Salem, Massachusetts, 2012), p.252, plate 127.
For early objects with the 'Un pêcheur' design with a diaper rim and Meissen-style cartouches decorated en grisaille with iron-red and gold, please see:
- Christie's pictorial history of Chinese ceramics, (A. du Boulay, Phaidon-Christie's, Oxford 1984), p.272, cat. 1.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), pp.66-67, cat. 3.9.
- Chinese Export Porcelain. Chine de Commande from the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, exhibition catalogue Hong Kong Museum of Art, (C.J.A. Jörg, The Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989), pp.134-135, cat 44.
For other objects with the 'Un pêcheur' design, decorated en grisaille with gold, please see:
- Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, W. de Haan, Hilversum, 1966), cat. 289.
- Chinese export porcelain. Chine de Commande, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, London, 1974), English translation of the Dutch edition, Hilversum 1966, cat. 298.
Interestingly the border design with the diaper rim and Meissen-style cartouches used on the objects with the 'Un pêcheur' design mentioned above match those on the so-called 'Sail maker' Chine de commande design, for an example of this dish please see:
For other objects with the 'Un pêcheur' design, decorated en camaïeu in overglaze lilac pink enamels, please see:
- Porcelaine de le Compagnie des Indes, (M. Beurdeley, Office du Livre, Fribourg, 1962), p.181, cat. 123.
- China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, (D.S. Howard & J. Ayers, Philip Wilson Publishers for Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, London 1978), vol. 2, pp.368-370, cat. 362.
- La porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a décor Occidental, (F. & N. Hervouët & Y. Bruneau, Flammarion - Pere Castor, Paris 1986), p.66 cat. 3.10.
- Faszination des Fremden: China - Japan - Europa, (D. Antonin & D. Suebsman, Hetjens-Museum, Deutsches Keramikmuseum Düsseldorf, 2009), pp.232-233, cat. 95.
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1966, cat. 197, 198 & 289
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1974, cat. 206, 207 & 298
Howard & Ayers 1978, vol. 2, cat. 362
Hervouët 1986, cat. 3.8, 3.9 & 3.10
Jörg 1989/2, p.170, cat. 43 & 44
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, cat. 193a & b
Price: Sold.
Encre de Chine 1725-1775
Object 2012135
Saucer
China
c.1730
Height 20 mm (0.79 inch), diameter of rim 116 mm (4.57 inch), diameter of footring 65 mm (2.56 inch), weight 53 grams (1.87 ounce (oz.))
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in overglaze iron-red, gold and black enamel with a boy riding on the back of a water buffalo in a mountainous landscape with rocks and a tree. In one hand the boy is holding his hat and a stick while his other hand is reaching out with a bird perched on his fingers looking at another bird in flight. Round the rim a diaper-pattern ground with three reserves filled leavy flower heads. The reverse is undecorated.
The use of black enamel in imitation of drawings or prints was first developed at the end of the reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722) and the Yongzheng reign (1723-1730). Chinese porcelains decorated in ink colour became popular in Europe around 1740, and until about 1790 continental clients continued to order them, especially for armorials, because the ink-colour process so readily duplicated the engraved bookplates supplied to the decorators as source materials. The technique may have been developed first for use on glass in the 1660s in Germany, where it was called schwarzlot. Eighteenth-century shipping records sometimes may have referenced it as pencilled ware because it was executed with a thin brush called a pencil. Albert Jacquemart dubbel it encre-de-Chine. Another name Jesuit ware was used still later due in part to the many examples of ceramics with religious motifs that incorporated this technique. En grisaille, another popular term used to refer to this technique, is inappropriate as it refers to works in various media in shades of gray and brown, and it does not convey the quality or technique evident in them. The Dutch terms were zwart geemailleerd or zwart goed (black-eneameled or black goods), and the state inventory of Johannes van Bergen van der Gijp (1713-1784) lists his porcelain as swarte kunst (black art). Works incorporating the reddish enamel known in China as zhucai (yellowish-red colour-or sepia often are grouped with ink-colour wares as well. (Sargent 2012, pp.333-334)
For similarly decorated objects, please see:
- Sold Ceramics - Sold Shipwreck Porcelains - Unidentified Shipwreck wares - Page 1 - Object 2010503.
-
Sold Ceramics - Sold Shipwreck Porcelains - Unidentified Shipwreck wares - Page 1 - Object 2010564.
Condition: Perfect.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Chinese wares over-decorated in the West 1700-1800 - English over-decorated Clobbered wares - Page 1
Object 2012124
Spoon or leak tray
China
1730-1740, over-decorated in London England c.1755-1765, possibly by James Giles or his workshop.
Provenance: The Geoffrey Godden Reference Collection.
Height 12 mm (0.47 inch), dimensions 122 mm (4.80 inch) x 76 mm (2.99 inch), weight 78 grams (2.75 ounce oz.))
Spoon or leak tray with hexagonal sides and a partial glazed base. Decorated with a carved (ahnua) taihu (garden) rock and flowering plants growing from behind a fence in low relief and decorated in underglaze blue with on the sides with a narrow band with honeycomb motifs. Over-decorated in England c.1755-1765, with iron-red and various enamel colour with a butterfly, an insect and various scattered European flowers. The rim in overglaze (dark) brown. On the base three paper labels, a rectangular paper collectors label that reads; GOODEN REFERENCE COLLECTION, a circular paper dealers label that reads; STOCKSPRING ANTIQUES Early James Gilles 37 and another circular paper dealers label that reads; KLABER & KLABER GUARENTEED GENUINE 6/03.
A spoon or leak tray was used to protect the surface of luxurious lacquer or painted tea tables, against the influence of a hot teapot or drops running from its spout. If, in certain circles, a special tea table was not at hand it served to protect the furniture or its valuable table-cloth from tea spots. (Volker 1959)
In the eyes of some scholars and collectors of both Chinese and European porcelains, Chinese export porcelains decorated in Europe are a chinoiserie hybrid. Thanks to this prejudice, such wares have been long overlooked and frequently denigrated with the term clobbered. In the late 19th century European decorated oriental porcelain was called 'clobbered', a word that came into the English language in the mid-19th century meaning as a noun, 'a black paste used by clobbers to fill up and conceal cracks in leather', and as a verb, 'to patch up, to cobble'. Later it was applied to old clothes meaning 'to renovate' and by the 19th century it was it was applied to porcelain. In 1900, F.Litchfield stated, 'There is a description of Chinese known as clobbered .... overpainted with ....ornament ..... sold for decorated oriental China.' It was a derogatory term meaning that the European decorator had plastered his style of decoration all over the pot with total disregard for the original which was the case in much Chinese blue-and-white over-decorated in the early 19th century and which are to blame for the poor reputation of these wares ever since. (Espir 2005, p.75), (Sargent 2012, p.499)
The lack of documentation and the decorators' anonymity-plus, admittedly, the lesser abilities of some independent decorators-have increased mainstream collectors' distancing from these wares. A commentator referred to such pieces as 'inoffensive, at worst a ruinous clobber', and observed that 'the Dutch in particular seem to have been firmly of the opinion that tuppence coloured was better than penny plain, and they suited the action to the word'. The term over-decorated may suggest that too much decoration was used, making it an unsatisfactory term. Over-decorated, clobbered, embellished ... none of these terms readily describes these wares. Many extremely fine European decorators used Chinese porcelains as their 'canvas', however, and it is only recently, with the work of Helen Espir, that these wares and their decorators have received their due.
In England 'China painters' (as they were sometimes identified) included James Gilles (or Gilles), Sr., and one known only as Campman, both of whom were working in 1723. Between 1756 and 1775, both Giles's son James (1718-1780), who worked on porcelain and glass and Jefferyes Hammett O'Neale (1724-1801), who was associated with fable painting, were well-known London decorators associated with the Worcester factory. (Sargent 2012, pp.499-500)
Till now the earliest known documentary evidence of London 'china painters' is in the 1723 Probate Inventory of Henry Akerman, a London shopkeeper selling chinaware, glassware, stoneware and tin-glazed ware, where debts are recorded to 'Gilles China Painter' and 'Campman China painter'. Giles must be James Gilis senior, who was recorded as a 'china painter' of St Giles in the Fields in 1729 when his eldest son Abraham was apprenticed to Philip Margas, another well-known 'chinaman'. Giles' brother in law was Francis bacon also of St Giles in the Fields, who was described in his will in 1737 as 'china painter', who authenticated Giles' handwriting in his Will, stating that he had 'worked with him (Giles) as a servant in his of business for some years'.... 'and to the time of his death' in 1741, was probably the son of Francis Bacon and nephew of Gilis. Giles' younger son James (1718-1780) was to have a distinguished career as a porcelain retailer and decorator from the 1750s to the 1770s. (Espir 2005, pp.213-215)
Geoffrey Godden was an author, historian, collector and dealer; but to the public he was best known for his expert valuations of fine – and not-so-fine – china on BBC Television’s Antiques Roadshow.
Godden called himself a “Chinaman” – an 18th-century term for a dealer in ceramics – and over five decades created a body of reference works that has added greatly to our knowledge of the medium. He insisted, however, that ceramics should be picked up and inspected. “You have to handle and view pieces closely,” Godden said. “Possession is almost vital to understanding.”
He published some 30 books which produced a detailed survey of English porcelain makers, from Bow, Chelsea and Derby, to Lowestoft, Liverpool and Worcester. He also wrote widely on porcelain produced outside Britain.
All of his writing, he observed, aimed to “open the reader’s eyes to the pleasures that await an inquisitive collector”. So prolific was his output that his Antiques Roadshow colleague Henry Sandon nicknamed him the “Barbara Cartland of Ceramics”.
Geoffrey Arthur Godden was born on February 2, 1929 at Worthing to Leslie Godden, an antiques dealer, and his wife Molly. After leaving Worthing High School, Geoffrey joined the family antiques business, Godden of Worthing (founded in 1900 by Geoffrey’s grandfather, Arthur).
He spent part of his teenage years packing and exporting antiques to the United States to raise funds for the war effort. He also caught the collecting bug. “I just naturally began to purchase – with my modest pocket-money – broken specimens of attractive 18th-century porcelain as others of my age might have spent their allowance saving for a new bike or model train,” he recalled.
Called up for National Service in 1947, Godden served in the Hampshire Regiment at Winchester, the Royal Sussex Regiment and finally the Queen’s own Royal West Kent Regiment at Shornecliffe.
When he was demobbed, he re-joined the family firm, specialising in 18th and 19th-century English ceramics, a radical departure from the company’s focus on furniture.
Every book I and other experts take to every roadshow was written by Geoffrey Godden. John Sandon
Having been told by his father that “if you want to know about something, write a book on it”, he published his first volume, Victorian Porcelain, in 1961. His Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pottery and Porcelain (1966) followed; it was subsequently chosen by Derek Nimmo as his book on Desert Island Discs.
Godden’s first love was Lowestoft porcelain, which had been readily available and inexpensive during the 1940s. He was drawn to these wares by their honest, anglicised interpretation of Chinese ceramic designs, often painted by women and children. “There is a homely quality to English blue and white,” he noted. In 1969 he published The Illustrated Guide to Lowestoft Porcelain (revised in 1985).
Over the following decades Godden produced countless books, often focusing on individual factories, as with Minton Pottery & Porcelain of the First Period (1968); others examined decoration – Godden’s Guide to English Blue and White (2004) – and centres of production, such as Chinese Export Market Porcelain (1979). Enthusiasts refer to his 750-page Encyclopeadia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks (1964, and still in print) as “the bible”.
When signing books Godden would add “Have Fun” or “A Trifle from Worthing”, the latter mimicking the rare “Trifle from Lowestoft” inscriptions found on some porcelains. He joked that unsigned copies of his books were much rarer, given the specialist nature of the work.
By the 1970s, Godden was appearing on the antiques quiz show Going For A Song with Arthur Negus and, in the 1990s and early 2000s, was a regular contributor to Antiques Roadshow as a member of its ceramics team.
On one roadshow Godden and John Sandon (the son of Henry Sandon and a director at Bonhams) were sharing a table when a woman unpacked a china tea set. Godden informed her that it was made in the 1870s. “No, you’re wrong”, she insisted, “it’s a hundred years older than that, can’t you check in those books the other experts are using? They must be written by real experts.” “I couldn’t help bursting out laughing,” Sandon recalled. “Every book I and other experts take to every roadshow was written by Geoffrey Godden.”
Godden lectured extensively in Britain and abroad, was president of the Northern Ceramics Society (2000-12) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.
Despite the lack of any formal training, Godden was a great educator. At home in Worthing he became a mentor to younger experts, giving seminars and hosting study weekends.
In his youth, Godden was a keen angler, representing Worthing Sea Anglers in national competitions. Later, he developed an interest in bowls, playing at the Worthing Bowling Club at Beach House Park. In 1988 he published his Beginner’s Guide To Bowls and would ruefully explain to ceramics audiences that this was his most popular book.
In 1964 Godden married Jean Magness, whose parents were market gardeners in Worthing and suppliers of strawberries to George VI. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their son.
Geoffrey Godden, born February 2, 1929, died May 10, 2016.
(source: www.telegraph.co.uk)
Condition: A firing flaw to the base, a popped bubble of glaze to the bottom, aa overdecorated frit (indicating the frit was already on the rim before the over-decorating) and a restored chip to the rim.
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Price: Sold.
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