ENGLISH & EUROPEAN CERAMICS & GLASS

ENGLISH & EUROPEANCERAMICS & GLASS

24th November 2020

DEPARTMENT CLARE DURHAM +44 (0) 1722 424507 cd@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

HOLLIE MORRISON +44 (0) 1722 446964 hm@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Now accepting consignments for the 17th February 2021 sale.

Closing date for entries 6th January 2021.

OPPOSITE. Lot 354. A large Vincennes dish from the first service of King Louis XV, c.1755, 32.5cm Provenance: purchased in London during the 1950s and thence by familial descent Estimate £40,000 – 60,000

1. Lot 353. A pair of Sèvres wine glass coolers with ormolu mounts, date codes for 1764 Provenance: from the collection of Edmund de Rothschild, Exbury House, Hampshire Estimate £1,000 – 2,000

2. Lot 167. A dated Bristol delftware plate, 1748, 22.5cm Provenance: from a private collection of British delftware Estimate £400 – 600

3. Lot 227. A Ralph Wood model of St George and the Dragon, c.1780-90, 29.5cm Estimate £600 – 800

4. Lot 298. A rare pair of Spode stone china vases, c.1820, 30.2cm Provenance: from the collection of Alfred Gresham Copeland and thence by descent through the Copeland family Estimate £300 – 500

HISTORY REPEATING A quick glance at the image of the dish on the left might cause you to think you’ve gone back in time to the start of this year and, let’s face it, 2020 is a year most of us would prefer not to repeat in a hurry. However, it is in fact a rare example of lightning striking twice.

In February we were fortunate to sell the Judith Howard Collection of Sèvres Porcelain and, among it, an early Vincennes dish from the first dinner service of Louis XV. Broken, riveted and bought by Judith for a pittance from a Hungerford junk shop, it made headlines when it went on to sell for £31,250 (including buyer’s premium).

When a rare or fine object sells well, and perhaps features in the national press, a string of emails and phonecalls will ensue from people who have something “identical”. In truth the said object is almost never identical and often bears no relation at all to the original item, so when a call was received regarding an “identical” Vincennes dish it was met with quiet resignation rather than wild enthusiasm. How wrong I was! Recently removed from the wall where it had been hanging for half a century or more, the dish is only the third recorded example of this shape – the other being in the collection of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. A total of 28 plat d’entremets (as the dish is recorded in Sèvres archives) were produced in the third part of the service, delivered to the Palace of Versailles in 1755. Today a large part of the service is on display at Boughton House in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch; this particular shape does not feature.

COPELAND HERITAGE The name of Copeland is a familiar one to anyone with even a passing knowledge of English porcelain, and one with a long history of ceramic production behind it. William Taylor Copeland bought the Spode factory in 1833 (his father had previously been a partner in the firm) and changed its name to W T Copeland & Sons in 1867. The factory continued down the family line, ending with Robert Copeland who stayed with the firm after its sale to the American Carborundum Group in 1966 (when it was

renamed Spode Ltd) and its subsequent merger with the Worcester Porcelain Company in 1976. It is therefore an honour for us to be selling items from the personal collection of Robert Copeland, many of which were passed down from his father, Alfred Gresham Copeland. While some patterns are easily recognisable to any Spode or Copeland enthusiast, the collection also includes some comparison pieces, showing the direct line between 18th century Chinese porcelain and the wares the factory produced in the 19th century.