LONDON, ENGLAND.- Sotheby's Olympia will sell the Albert E. Wade Collection of British Art Pottery. The sale includes more than 400 pieces of Ruskin, Moorcroft & Bernard Moore Pottery. A myriad of shapes, vibrant colours and stunning glazes will highlight the Albert E Wade Collection of British Art Pottery – one of the most comprehensive and important collections of its type to be offered for auction in the UK – which will be sold on Thursday, May 2, 2002 at Sotheby’s, Olympia, London.
The sale in May which is estimated to fetch in excess of £350,000, will include over 400 lots and focus on just three potters: Stoke-on-Trent-based William Moorcroft and Bernard Moore and William Howson-Taylor’s Birmingham-based Ruskin Pottery. Estimates range from £100 to £12,000.
Mr Wade started to collect Art Pottery in the early 60s, concentrating on Moorcroft initially and then on to Ruskin and Bernard Moore in the late 60s and early 70s.
Mark Newstead, one of Sotheby’s specialists in charge of the sale, said: “The factor that unifies the three potters reflected in this sale was a common belief in hand decorating and experimentation. They were seen, by many, as eccentrics who bridged the gap between the Industrial age of automation and the studio potter working alone.
“They were autocratic master potters with a sound business sense and were good employers with relatively small teams: Ruskin employed 20 or so people, while Moorcroft a few more and Bernard Moore just a handful of people.”
Moorcroft, Ruskin and Bernard Moore had a fascination for the flambé glazes echoing those produced by the Chinese in the late 17th/early 18th century and many pieces in Mr Wade’s collection reflect these influences. The method involved firing the pots at very high temperatures and by shutting off the oxygen at a critical moment resulting in a violent reaction, which produced a range of reds, purples, blues, lilacs and green glazes.
Many of the Ruskin pieces from the Wade Collection incorporate the wonderful glazes, for example a large high-fired vase, circa 1905-10 decorated in mottled green, black and blue glazes is estimated at £3,000-5,000, as is another large high fired vase decorated in mottled purple, lavender and turquoise. A set of six brightly-coloured bowls, dating from the 1920s, each decorated in a different colour - orange, turquoise, yellow and pink - is estimated at £300-500, while among the 15 unusually- shaped scent bottles is a dove grey high-fired example with stopper and stand, dating from 1927 and estimated at £1,000-1,500. Also included are a collection of Ruskin Pottery buttons, brooches and cufflinks and even a clock face. These pieces will be sold as group lots with estimates ranging from £100 upwards.
