Lawrence’s Ceramics and Decorative Arts auction comprise items from across the globe spanning many centuries of production. In their recent sale, over five centuries of worldwide skill went under the hammer and prices were buoyant.
The Oriental ceramics included a Chinese famille rose bowl and cover (£2440) and a Cantonese enamel plaque of seated European figures making music in a pavilion (£5850) whilst a 12.5cm (5”) gilt bronze Buddha was bid to £4270. An interesting selection of glassware included £650 for a single wine glass; £530 for a Baccarat paperweight; and £1120 for a pair of Bohemian green and white lustres. Two similar Derby pottery figures of cherubs upon a goat and a leopard made £1700.
In a popular section of more modern decorative arts, a Lalique vase in the Bellecour design made £950; a Wedgwood `Fairyland` lustre bowl with the `Leapfrogging Elves` design leapt nimbly to £1120; a Royal Worcester vase decorated with a stork by Walter Powell flew to £910; and a pottery bowl by James Tower attracted many bids to make £950. A Heals and Son `Chartwell` chair, originally designed for Sir Winston Churchill but then produced more widely in the firm’s catalogue, was of appropriately sturdy and straightforward British construction: it was bid eagerly (and with bulldog determination) to £870.
