Last year I received a request from antiques dealer and writer Carl-Henric Malmgren to provide photos from my collection for an article he was writing about inventive repairs for the Swedish magazine Antik & Auktion. After a delay of many months and one pandemic later, the article was published in the May 2020 issue. Here it is in all its glory, with Swedish text and loaded with wonderful photos from collections from around the world. I am hoping to get a transition of the text and if/when that happens I will post it here.
Archive for August, 2020
Antik & Auktion Magazine
Sunday, August 30th, 2020Spanish tin-glazed plate, c.1870
Sunday, August 16th, 2020Who doesn’t like blue and white ceramics? Not many, according to popular taste. Be it porcelain or pottery, Chinese or European, cobalt blue glaze on a white ground is arguably the most popular color combination throughout the world.
This tin-glazed earthenware pottery plate was made in Valencia, Spain in the mid to late 1800s. It measures 11.25 inches in diameter and is decorated with stylized flowers in teardrop shapes which form a ring. As lovely as the decoration is, I was drawn to the plate due to the 18 large double metal wire staples on the back holding the broken pieces together. After it was repaired, a rustic wire hanger was made so it could be displayed on the wall. With all the trouble the owner went through, this must have been a very special plate.
My plate would feel right at home among these similar examples at the Museu de Ceramica de Manises in Valencia, Spain.
Photo courtesy of Museu de Ceramica de Manises
Inside the Zwinger Palace vaults, part 2
Sunday, August 9th, 2020For those of you who enjoyed seeing the inventive repairs I posted in part 1, here are more examples. Same intro, new photos.
In May 2016 I traveled to Dresden, Germany, to see the world renowned ceramics collection at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Porzellansammlung, located in the Zwinger, Dresden’s magnificent palace. Not only did I see the jaw-droppingly gorgeous ceramics, sumptuously displayed in various rooms and hallways of the palace, but I was given a private tour by Heike Ulbricht, conservator of ceramics. Ms. Ulbricht was most generous with her time, spending over 2 hours showing me early repairs sprinkled throughout the collection, and giving me a peek at pieces she and her colleagues were currently working on. Only about 10% of the collection is on view to the public so I was thrilled to witness the astonishing collection of over 20,000 examples, kept cool in underground vaults below the great halls of the palace.
Please take a look at Inside the Zwinger Palace vaults, part 1, previously posted and containing more examples from the collection.
Painted carved wood figural lid finial on a baluster form covered jar.
The original porcelain finial.
Painted plaster replacement lid finial in front, with 2 “perfect” examples at rear.
Covered jar with resin replacement bird finial on lid.
Faience replacement lid matches the hexagonal porcelain covered jar beautifully.
A pair of vases, one with a replacement lid and the other with a bronze replacement lid finial.
Teapot with bronze replacement lid finial in the form of a twig.