Willie Nelson performing at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Photo courtesy Dwight McCann / Chumash Casino Resort / www.DwightMcCann.com. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Country music great Willie Nelson is being honored in Austin with plans for a guitar-in-hand bronze statue and a street named in his honor.
The city council on May 27 is scheduled to vote on dubbing a stretch of 2nd Street “Willie Nelson Boulevard.”
A smaller version of a planned Nelson statue was unveiled Thursday.
The larger version is scheduled to be placed next year near the entrance the new studio of the famed public broadcasting music program Austin City Limits. Nelson was featured in the 1974 pilot episode.
The nonprofit group Capital Area Statues Inc. commissioned the Nelson sculpture by Philadelphia artist Clete Shields, as part of a continuing salute to Texas history and culture.
The 77-year-old Nelson is from Abbott, Texas, located 25 miles north of Waco.
___
On the Net:
www.willienelson.com
www.austincitylimits.org
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A descendant of the elm tree that shaded Philadelphia founder William Penn and a Lenape chief as they signed a treaty of peace and friendship more than three centuries ago has been replanted in a park that now stands on the site.
The tree called the “Great Elm,” where Penn and Chief Tamanead of the Lenape turtle clan were said to have met along the Delaware River, was famous from a 1771 painting by Benjamin West. A storm uprooted the tree in 1810, and though it was replaced by an obelisk, many were concerned about the loss of such a symbol of equality and harmony.
So a group gathered last week at the site in what is now Penn Treaty Park in the Fishtown section of the city to replant an 18-foot clipping of the Great Elm, which Haverford College horticulturalist Carol Wagner said was given to the college by former park owner Gen. Paul Oliver.
Wagner said the college has nurtured seedling offsprings of the elm since the original fell, replanting the clippings and growing its descendants from its seedlings.
“I nurture it and I dig up its seedlings,” Wagner said. “This is one of the most important trees in American history.”
Native American pastor John Norwood, a member of the Nanticoke Leni-Lenape Tribal Council and the Penn Treaty Museum board, chanted a prayer while circling the elm in smoke, and each participant was asked to take a pinch of tobacco from inside a plastic bag and sprinkling the trunk while saying their own prayers before the tree, Wagner said.
During a ceremony in March marking the 200-year anniversary of the tree’s fall, Haverford donated two of the tree’s descendants. Native Americans from as far away as Oklahoma came for the event, which featured Leni-Lenape singing, dancing, and drumming.
John Connors, another member of the museum board, said he was proud of the park and what it represented.
“This park lives on because decent people kept a promise,” he said.
___
Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
DETROIT (AP) – Three Michigan museums are getting more than $370,000 in federal grants to strengthen and support art conservation.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan recently announced the grants for Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing, Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Michigan State University Museum will get about $149,000 to buy and install storage furniture and supplies for five newly acquired collections. Cranbrook will get about $133,000 to improve the storage conditions of textile, ceramics and glass collections. The DIA will get $90,000 to upgrade storage for its American art collections.
The grants are from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
___
On the Net:
Cranbrook Art Museum: http://www.cranbrookart.edu/museum
Detroit Institute of Arts: http://www.dia.org
Institute of Museum and Library Services: http://www.imls.gov/
Michigan State University Museum: http://museum.msu.edu
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta in a 2006 photo taken at the grand opening of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore. Photo copyright Catherine Saunders-Watson.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Pioneering fantasy artist Frank Frazetta died Monday in a Fort Myers, Fla., hospital, his manager said. He was 82.
Frazetta had been out to dinner with his daughters Sunday but suffered a stroke at his Boca Grande home later that night and was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital, manager Rob Pistella said. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed the death, as did his daughter Heidi Frazetta Grabin.
“He’s going to be remembered as the most renowned fantasy illustrator of the 20th Century,” Pistella said.
Frazetta created covers and illustrations for more than 150 books and comic books, along with album covers, movie posters and original paintings. His illustrations of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, Vampirella and other characters influenced many later artists.
His children have fought over an estate estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars, filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Florida.
His son, Alfonso Frank Frazetta, 52, was charged in December with using a backhoe to break into the artist’s museum in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains and trying to remove 90 paintings insured for $20 million. The charges were dropped late last month after two days of mediation produced a truce.
“It is resolved, but there’s always new issues that can come out,” daughter Heidi Frazetta Grabin said.
Frazetta had a history of strokes, but appeared well and was still painting, she and Pistella said.
Grabin and her sister, Holly Frazetta Taylor, dined out with their father Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day, then walked with him on Englewood Beach.
“We had a lovely time, and he just talked about how beautiful the sunset was, and how his next studio was going to have windows around it overlooking the Gulf,” Grabin said.
Alfonso Frank Frazetta did not return a message Monday.
A lawsuit he had filed in Florida alleged that his sisters and brother Billy were plotting to wrest control of the family business and fortune from him after their mother died in July 2009.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Peter Max original acrylic-on-canvas painting titled Phonograph. Image courtesy Universal Live.
NORTHBROOK, Ill. – Universal Live Fine Art Auction will conduct a 334-lot auction of fine art prints, original art and sculpture on Tuesday, May 11, beginning at 4 p.m. Central Time, 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The Guiragossian and Stevens Estates have commissioned Universal Live, of the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Ill., to liquidate their fine art with attractive opening bids. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
According to Universal Live’s auctioneer, Martin Shape, the auction consists of artworks estimated at 50 percent of gallery prices, or less. There are many works by highly collectible artists such as Picasso, Dali, Chagall, Peter Max, Leroy Neiman and Matisse.
Other artists represented include Tarkay, Kosciuk, Joseph Presser, Burton Morris, Lowell Nesbit, Erte, Cuillaume Azoulay, Dorit Levi, Hisashi Otuka, Scoppetone, Boulanger, Tadi Asoma, Marco, Watanabe, Zhou Ling, Zhou Brothers, Linnea Pergola, Steve Kaufman, John Stubart, Matrios Manoukian, Hirschfield, Jose Royo and many others.
“With Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers, a great amount of bidding activity is expected,” said Shape.
For additional information on any artwork in the sale, contact Universal Live at 847-412-9900 or email auctions@universallive.com.
Emile Bernard original 1890 signed painting titled Cloisonnism. Image courtesy Universal Live. Cecilia Garcia Amaro still life with flowers, acrylic and pastels. Image courtesy Universal Live. Jules Cheret original 1891 poster for Casino de Paris. Image courtesy Universal Live.
Persian pitcher with hand-painted exterior, 13th-15th century. Est. $10,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions.
BOSTON – Kaminski Auctions’ May Estates Auction features fine art, antiques and fine furnishings from estates spanning Massachusetts to Kaminski’s second location in California. The auction will take place May 22-23 under the tent at Kaminski Auctions, 564 Cabot St., Beverly, Mass. Live online bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
Bidding will commence at 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday. Previews are scheduled May 18-21 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and on the day of the sale beginning at 8 a.m.
Highlighting the auction is an unusual and ornate Persian pitcher, which has an estimate of $10,000-$20,000. The pitcher, which dates to the 13th-15th century, boasts a hand-painted design featuring two rows of figures, some crouched and others mounted on horseback. The piece is glazed in a blue-green hue. Islamic writing decorates the interior rim, which is roughly 3 1/2 inches in diameter.
Also crossing the block is a painting by Scottish artist James Fairman (1826-1904). The painting, estimated at $10,000-$20,000, is a coastal landscape depicting ships, a lighthouse and boys on the shoreline. The piece is signed by the artist and framed. Fairman immigrated to the United States in 1832 and was an accomplished landscape painter, having been one of the many artists to paint New Hampshire’s White Mountains in the late 1800s.
Additional fine art offerings include an abstract collage by Russian artist Eugene Rukhin (1943-1976). The collage (est. $5,000-$10,000) comprises a unique combination of materials, including burlap and oil paints. After his untimely death in a fire at the age of 32, Rukhin’s works were largely absent in the market until his widow Galina Popova surfaced with approximately 250 of his innovative collages. The artist’s works have enjoyed a recent boon in popularity, with some of his pieces reaching new record highs in the six-figure range.
A premier selection of jewelry is also offered at this exciting two-day auction. A platinum and diamond ring (est. $75,000-$100,000) highlights the auction’s jewelry selection. The center stone, which is accompanied by an EGL certificate, is a stunning 10.44-carat emerald-cut diamond.
“We’ve assembled a diverse selection of consignments for our first outdoor auction of the year on-site at our Beverly, Massachusetts location,” said Frank Kaminski, owner of Kaminski Auctions. “We’re always on the lookout for items to feature in upcoming auctions, and can accommodate anything from a single item to an entire estate.”
For details visit www.KaminskiAuctions.com or call 978-927-2223.
James Fairman (1826-1904) painted this coastal view with ships. The oil on canvas is signed and framed. It has a $10,000-$20,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. Eugene Rukhin (Russian, 1943-1976), abstract collage, oil, burlap and mixed media, signed lower right, 30 by 26 inches. Est. $5,000-$10,000. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. Important early 19th-century tall clock by William Cummins of Boston, case by Willard, mahogany inlaid with satin wood, ebony fan carving on door, painted and signed, 101 inches high by 19 1/2 inches wide by 9 1/2inches deep. Good condition. Est. $25,000-$35,000. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. Platinum and 10.44-carat emerald-cut diamond ring with EGL certificate, size 6, good condition. Est. $75,000-$100,000. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions.
‘Dressing Room’ by Grigory Gluckmann (Russian-American, 1898-1973), oil on panel, 24 5/8 inches by 29 3/4 inches, 34 1/2 inches by x 40 inches framed. Est. $60,000-$80,000. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Auctions and Appraisals. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Art and antiques from several historic Southern homes and families, as well as items deaccessioned by Cheekwood Botanic Gardens and Museum of Art in Nashville are among the highlights of the Spring Case Antiques Auction, slated for May 22 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
A painting of three ballerinas by Russian-American artist Grigory Gluckmann (1898-1973) leads the fine art offerings. The oil on panel bears a 1953 exhibition label from the Milch Galleries in New York and is entitled Dressing Room. Gluckmann, who fled to Paris to escape the Russian Revolution and later fled Paris during its German occupation, was known for his luminous representations of the human figure and the time-consuming layering method by which he applied his paint. Ballerinas are among his most sought-after subjects.
Other artists represented in the sale include Robert Lougheed (Canadian, 1901-1982), Sterling Strauser (Pennsylvania, 1907-1995), Cornelius Hankins (Tennessee, 1864-1946), and sporting artists Robert Cleminson (British, active 1860-1886), and Joseph Sulkowski (American, b. 1951). There are two etchings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1896). Also expected to garner attention is a portrait miniature of a Southern gentleman by John Wood Dodge (New York/Tennessee, 1807-1893), and a patriotic oil on board painting of President Andrew Jackson, possibly a campaign piece or memorial painting, dating from the second quarter of the 19th century. An Auguste Edouart double silhouette with labeled sitters and a circa 1810 watercolor portrait of Marie Henriette D’Anterroche of New Jersey round out the fine art offerings.
The sale features an assortment of Old Sheffield Plate, sterling, silverplate and coin silver deaccessioned by Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville to benefit their acquisitions fund.
“Cheekwood maintains an excellent silver collection, but these are pieces which the museum felt no longer fit in with their collecting focus,” said company president John Case. “There are some unusual forms, such as late-18th- to early 19th-century plate warmers, and hollowware and flatware from the Georgian period through the Edwardian era. But not all of it will be expensive – many lots are estimated to sell for under $200. We also have some great silver from other consignors, including a Tetard Freres French Art Deco flatware service, a Baltimore Castle Pattern tea service, coin silver from Tennessee, Georgia and Charleston, and 20th-century silver by Spratling, Dodge, and Adler. It’s really an outstanding sale for silver all around.”
A plantation home in Grainger County, Tenn., known as Horse Shoe Bend yielded several important early examples of Southern furniture for the sale. The house itself went to a watery grave in 1940, when the land around it was flooded to create the Cherokee Dam. Fortunately, the furnishings and some architectural elements were removed, and with the death of one of the last remaining descendents, they are now on the auction block. They include a rare cherry cupboard or press with turned pilasters and glazed doors over a base with unusual pie safe tins, as well as a bookcase on chest, and a birdcage candlestand, all of which retain their original surfaces. Also featured in the sale is an early 19th-century walnut corner cupboard with dentil molded cornice, glazed doors and cupboard base that descended in the family of James Buchanan, an early settler of Davidson County (Nashville area) and a Middle Tennessee sugar chest with original liner box. Although Case is better known for Southern furniture, there is also a bed and two storage chests from the Iolani Palace in Hawaii. They were reputedly among the furnishings sold at public auction following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. Rounding out the furniture offerings is a collection of Georgia furniture from a home featured in the April 1997 edition of Early American Homes, plus several pieces of Stickley oak and European furniture.
Pottery is a staple at Case. This time, an exceptional redware pitcher by Greeneville, Tenn., potter Christopher Haun leads the lineup. The lead glazed pitcher features manganese or iron oxide loop designs and unusual compass star and cross hatched stamping as well as the name C.A. Haun & Co. It is the only known marked pitcher form by Haun, who was a Union sympathizer during the Civil War and participated in burning a railroad bridge in Greene County. He was captured and put to death by Confederate forces in 1861.
There is also a rare W.H. Hancock stamped ring jug from North Carolina, several lots of Georgia folk pottery from the Meaders family and other makers, and, from the art pottery realm, an 1893 Rookwood Iris glaze scenic vase by Kataro Shirayamadani, depicting four birds in flight.
Civil War items include a cache of letters from Confederate Lt. Thomas Bell of the 30th Tennessee Regiment. They include letters from his months stationed at Fort Donelson, an account of his capture when the fort fell to Union forces, and details of his time at Johnson’s Island on Lake Erie as a prisoner of war. Bell, who was eventually released in a prisoner exchange, returned to his regiment and died a few weeks after being wounded fighting near Atlanta. There is a Greeneville, Tenn., Union soldier’s GAR and Wilder Brigade ribbons and medal, plus numerous other Civil War items including weapons, a painted canteen, a reunion banner, books, and a carved cane that descended from the estate of a Union Civil War soldier from Jefferson County depicting a Confederate snake chasing a Tennessee mockingbird, which is seen seeking safety under a Union Eagle shield.
Also featured is a collection of historic documents including land grants and deeds signed by James K. Polk and John Quincy Adams, and an 1869 autograph book with signatures of Andrew Johnson, the Chief Justice of the United States, and every member of the senate.
A collection of 19th-century Bohemian and French glass features several fine examples attributed to makers such as Moser and Baccarat. There are also collections of French Quimper pottery, Asian snuff bottles, and circus memorabilia. Rounding out the sale is a large selection of estate jewelry, several clocks and barometers, and antique lighting including two Handel lamps and sconces salvaged from Cornell University and from the Gustav Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee.
“This will be the largest auction we have ever offered, and one of the most diverse,” said Case. “Estimates on these lots start at $80 and go up to $80,000, so there truly is something for every budget.”
The auction will be held at Case’s gallery in the historic Cherokee Mills Building, 2240 Sutherland Ave. in Knoxville on May 22 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. A preview will take place Friday, May 21 from noon to 6 p.m. A complete online catalog also will be available for viewing via the website, www.caseantiques.com. Interested bidders may also call (865) 558-3033 or (615) 812-6096 for more information about objects in the sale or to set up a phone or absentee bid.
For details phone (865) 558-3033 in Knoxville or (615) 812-6096 in Nashville
Tennessee redware pitcher by Christopher Alexander Haun (Greene County, 1821-1861). It is the only marked Haun pitcher form known. 8 1/4 inches high. Est. $3,500-$4,500. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Auctions and Appraisals. Patriotic vignette of Andrew Jackson, oil on board, 19th century. 10 3/8 inches high by 20 3/8 inches wide. Est. $7,500-$8,500. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Auctions and Appraisals. Tennessee china press with punched tin door base from Horse Shoe Bend Plantation, original surface, early 19th century. Est. $6,000-$8,000. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Auctions and Appraisals.
NEW YORK (AP) – The Whitney Museum of American Art has received a major gift of more than 350 works of art from a longtime benefactor.
The museum said Friday the donation was made by philanthropist and art collector Emily Fisher Landau. The 367 pieces include works by Carl Andre, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning.
The museum says it plans an exhibition of the works in early 2011.
It says the gift will fill important gaps in its holdings.
Fisher Landau is a longtime benefactor and trustee of the Whitney. In 1995, she established an endowment to support the Whitney Biennial exhibition.
___
On the Net: www.whitney.org
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ROME (AP) – A finely painted portrait of a demurely looking woman nestled in an exceptionally ornate frame that was kept in an Italian ducal palace storeroom appears to be a Raphael original and not a copy as long thought, an art official in central Italy said Friday.
However, experts on the Renaissance giant quickly cautioned that art historians would have to closely study it before any conclusions can be made.
Mario Scalini, state superintendent for art in Modena and nearby towns, said he was doing an inventory of about 20,000 paintings in storerooms after he was named to the post a few years ago when he was struck by an unusually fancy, gilded 17th-century frame in the palace in Sassuolo, near Modena.
It surrounded a portrait of a lady, hair braided, head tilted to one side and eyes demurely looking downward, as if the portrait-sitter wanted to avoid the gaze of the artist.
The work was long considered to be a copy of the head of one of the subjects in the much larger Madonna della Perla (Madonna of the Pearl) in Madrid’s Prado museum, Scalini said.
The Prado work is considered to have been painted by Giulio Romano from a design of Raphael not long before he died 1520.
But Scalini said in a telephone interview that he wondered why a copy would be given such an elaborate frame. He said a hunch that it might be a Raphael was heightened when he found centuries-old inventory notations indicating the collection contained a woman’s portrait by Raphael.
The documentation contained no indication the Raphael work might have been later sold or otherwise transferred, he said. “It had obviously been forgotten” and sat in the storeroom for decades, Scalini said.
The art official sent the 12 by 16 inch (30 centimeter by 40 centimeter) work to a laboratory in Florence, where one of the experts who ran scientific tests on the painting, Anna Pelagotti, said infrared testing revealed three layers underneath, including a preparatory design.
“It was a beautiful sensation, our mouths dropped open,” said Pelagotti, describing the reaction she and her fellow experts had when the saw the sketch. “It looked more Raphael” than one could imagine, Pelagotti marveled, adding, “you could see his hand” in the finely detailed sketch.
Scalini said he hopes during a visit to Madrid later this month on other business that he can persuade the Prado to lend Madonna della Perla, so art historians can study the two works side by side to help conclude if the long languishing painting is really Raphael’s.
The Vatican Museums are home to one of the world’s finest collections of Raphael paintings, and the Museums’ director of painting restoration, Maurizio De Luca, who worked on the Raphael Stanzas frescoes, stressed that such lab tests cannot attribute with certainty who painted the portrait.
“They can’t say it’s Raphael’s. That will come…” only after study by art critics and historians who will decide if it was painted by the artist or perhaps one of his pupils, De Luca said by phone.
At Scalini’s request, no “invasive” testing, such as analyzing bits of paint were done, to avoid damaging the painting, Pelagotti said.
But De Luca stressed that while chemical or other scientific analysis can determine if the material came from a certain time period, “you always need face-to-face examination” by art scholars to reach on judgment on the artist’s identity.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Colored slips, applied in a variety of ingenious techniques, produce the abstract patterns on the English pottery called mocha or dipped ware. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. Long a favorite with Americana collectors, colorful mocha ware goes equally well with period antiques or modern furniture. Now new fans are buying the pottery for its bold graphics, which add dramatic punctuation to eclectic interiors.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, furniture, silver, and glass made on this side of the Atlantic were used side-by-side with imported English ceramics. American consumers demanded many popular products made in British potteries, such as salt-glazed stoneware, blue and white transfer prints, gaudy china, and mocha. This demand was filled by traders in East Coast cities who received regular shipments from England.
Skinner’s March 7 auction of American Furniture & Decorative Arts in Boston was particularly rich in mocha ware. The back cover of the catalog featured an eye-popping array of mugs, jugs and bowls decorated with the bright bands, checkers, marbling and slip splotches that characterize the pottery. The four-figure prices achieved by many lots demonstrate collectors’ passion for desirable forms and patterns.
At first glance, the array might be mistaken for the output of a particularly creative modern studio potter. But the pieces were actually produced on factory worktables at English potteries in the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Most designs were achieved through the clever application of tinted slips while the pieces were manipulated on an engine-turned lathe.
Stephen Fletcher, director of the Americana department at Skinner’s, was not surprised by the sales results. “As much as we’ve handled over the years, I never tire of mocha. To me it always has this fresh appealing quality about it. I love the colors. I like the manner in which the designs are applied. There were several of the bowls that looked like Jackson Pollack had dribbled slip glaze on those. And other pieces have a kind of formal quality to them,” he said.
The expert can testify to its popularity in past centuries. “I own an old house on Cape Cod,” he said. “When we did some excavating while repairing the foundations, we found all sort kinds of shards, including chunks of mocha ware in the most beautiful colors. It’s small wonder that Americana people like mocha so much because it’s been a part of New England décor for a long time.”
Fletcher said the buyers were a cross section of dealers and collectors who appreciate the vivid appeal of the wares. “You find different approaches to collecting it,” he continued. “There are buyers who like mocha with chips, cracks, stains and all – in ‘as is’ condition. Some people who collect mocha ware will accept flaws, as well they should – it doesn’t ruin a piece if it’s chipped or stained. There are other people who like mocha that has been professionally repaired and restored.”
Even more important to collectors are the desirability of certain patterns and the rarity of certain forms and sizes. Fortunately, Jonathan Rickard has written an authoritative reference, Mocha and Related Dipped Wares, 1770-1939, which explains in detail the variety of techniques used to decorate the ware.
With a background in fine art, Rickard said he was immediately attracted to this pottery because he saw “the shapes of Bauhaus and a decoration of abstract expressionism.”
Rickard begins his book by defining the subject: “lathe-turned refined utilitarian earthenware whose principal decoration has been achieved with slip.” Although he knows he can never change common usage, he points out that the term “mocha” properly designates only those pieces decorated with the dark dendritic tree or “seaweed” motifs on lighter bands of slip. He recognizes that collectors now use mocha ware to refer to all the slipped and dipped designs that he covers in the book.
In addition to the delicate trees noted above, collectors seek out pieces that feature looping “earthworm” trails and circular “cat’s-eye” patterns. Both were produced by the deft use of a multichambered slip pot applied as a piece was rotating. The reference book also explains the methods used to create pieces with variegated surfaces and banded pottery.
Rickard has collaborated with craftsman Don Carpentier of Eastfield Village in upstate New York. The potter has been able to recreate the designs on mocha and related slipwares, a process that has added new information about the techniques involved.
Since this was utilitarian pottery, certain shapes predominate – straight-sided mugs, jugs of various sizes, pepper and mustard pots, and bowls. Less common are coffeepots, teapots and flowerpots. The ceramic bodies are mostly described as creamware or pearlware, with base colors ranging from white to cream and tan.
Rickard has also worked with archaeologists excavating at pottery sites in England. “We are pretty well convinced that there are a few different potteries that produced the bulk of the stuff that came to America,” he said. “And each one of them has its own handwriting basically. If you’ve seen enough of the stuff, you can recognize the work from one factory.”
One pottery involved was Wood and Caldwell, later Enoch Wood & Sons, located in Burslem in the Staffordshire area. More makers are listed in his book. Such factories worked in an assembly line fashion, making multiple example of the same shape with the same design. But the capricious techniques involved in the decoration ensure that each piece differs slightly from its fellows.
The serendipity of slip application produces individual compositions that seem like masterpieces of abstract expressionism. Strong design, harmonious color schemes and elegant forms bring the highest prices at auction. A good example from the March Skinner’s sale is a 2-quart pearlware mug circled with looping earthworm and cat’s-eye motifs. Its final price with premium was $2,844.
As Rickard states in his book, “It was the striking appearance of dipped wares that first intrigued me and so many other collectors. These pots will continue to enthrall those whose eyes are charmed by their colors and patterns.”
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
A lot of two banded quart mugs, one with cat’s-eye decoration, brought $1,541 in a March sale of American Furniture and Decorative Arts at Skinner’s. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. This English quart mug, circa 1830, has a reeded rim and base framing bold cat’s-eyes on a blue and tan ground: $1,007. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. A baluster form pepper pot, made around 1800, has a pearlware body circled by an engine-turned pattern filled with dark slip: $948. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. Mustard was an essential condiment on English tables in the 19th century. Less than 4 inches high, this small covered pot is ringed with geometric bands: $474. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. This large 2-quart mug features two designs popular with collectors: circular cat’s-eyes and looping “earthworm” trails. In spite of a crack, the boldly decorated piece sold for $2,844. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. A small late 18th-century jug alternates marbled panels with green-painted reeded bands: $2,370. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. Dark branching patterns resembling trees or seaweed are the classic decoration on mocha ware. This 6-inch jug sold for $1,067. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. Great graphics – cat’s-eyes and earthworm trails on the interior and undulating lines of slip on the exterior – add value to an early 19th-century bowl, which brought $2,607 at the March auction. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. Cat’s-eye and earthworm patterns on a slate-blue ground decorate this lot, which brought $2,252. The baluster form jug also features molded designs on the shoulder band, spout and handle terminal. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. An 8-inch jug, circa 1820, has a broad black band with large scrolls and dots in white slip: $1,896. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.
