Archive for August, 2020

Antik & Auktion Magazine

Sunday, August 30th, 2020

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.

Staffordshire sugar bowl, c.1860

Sunday, August 23rd, 2020

This soft paste pottery footed sugar bowl was made in Staffordshire, England in the mid 1800s. It is decorated with polychrome hand painted flowers & leaves and measures 5.5 inches high, 7.75 inches wide. On the underside is an incised “2” and what appears to be a green hand painted number.

At some point during the early life of this pretty sugar bowl the lid slipped from someone’s fingers and the knob broke off. Rather than toss out a perfectly good bowl, a repurposed brass ring was attached to the lid, held into place with lead. Quite an unusual repair, as tiny rings such as this were used as small box or drawer pulls, and for picture hanging. This is the first time I have seen this type of repair and am pleased that over 100 years ago, someone saved a family heirloom by using a household object and a little bit of ingenuity.

This sugar bowl with similar form suggests what the original knob on mine might have looked like

Photo courtesy of The Townhouse Antiques

Spanish tin-glazed plate, c.1870

Sunday, August 16th, 2020

Who 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, 2020

For 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.

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The original porcelain finial.

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Painted plaster replacement lid finial in front, with 2 “perfect” examples at rear.

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Covered jar with resin replacement bird finial on lid.

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Faience replacement lid matches the hexagonal porcelain covered jar beautifully.

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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.

Chinese teapot with applied flowers and triple repairs, c.1730

Sunday, August 2nd, 2020

This baluster form porcelain teapot with applied flowers was made in China during the tail end of the Yongzheng period (1678-1735.) It measures 5 inches high, 6.75 inches from handle to spout and is decorated in the Famille Rose palette of green, orange, blue, lavender, and gilt.

Various craftspeople were kept busy making repairs on this poor injured fighter. We will never know exactly who did the repairs or when they were done but it seems likely that a metal smith made the silver replacement spout sometime in the 1700s-1800s. The rattan wrapped bronze replacement handle was most likely done in the 1800s and the wooden replacement knob could have been done as late as the early 1900s.

The last photo shows a similar teapot with all of its original parts intact, but I much prefer my mismatched sampler of various early repairs.

This teapot with similar form and decoration suggests what the original spout, handle, and knob on mine might have looked like before it took a tumble.

Photo courtesy of Northeast Auctions