Lucie Rie

5" diameter Standard Saucer

Rie & Coper seal marks

I have just realised that we don't have a Lucie Rie thread so here goes.

She was born in Vienna, as Lucie Gomperz, in 1902 and came to England in 1938.

She had trained as a potter at the Kunstgewerbeschule in her native Vienna, making thrown earthenware (usually red in colour) from 1926 until the late 1940s. In 1945 she begun to make domestic stoneware, which was decorated using tin and manganese glazes and then later one off pieces in stoneware and, on occasions, in porcelain. She did have a few assistants to help her with the domestic ware production, most notably of which was Hans Coper, who worked with her from 1946 to 1959 and was allowed to add his mark to items that he had help produce.

From 1939 until her death in 1995 she potted in Albion Mews, Bayswater, London and was made a DBE (Dame) in 1991.

A tall thrown and squared cylinder that I sold a few years ago.

An image of the base of the vase, which shows the underglaze mark, although not very clearly.

Iv'e never had anything exciting of her work , this mark of hers with Hans Coper was on a saucer , boring I know but It fetched over £300 on ebay , so I was happy , sometimes potters are really overrated , thankfully  

went to the Pallant gallery in Chichester today to view their Scottish colourist exhibition.  This time i remembered to take a sneaky pic of some of their ceramics, including Coper and Rie.

This side handled jug that I sold several years ago had both a Lucie Rie and a Hans Coper seal on the base.



No image of the base I'm afraid.

It came from some friends of mine and I paid a fair price but they had found it in a local House clearance shop that I had stopped visiting because there was never anything there. It cost 10p and the only piece of pottery but they got loads of Scandinavian glass as well. Despite popping in regularly the shop never had another clearance like it.

Amazing what some people will pay , I paid £250 for that saucer and still made £100 profit , it went to Japan .

What do people on the forum think of these?

If you compare the foot on both of the above with the Lucie Rie vase and saucer it's a no brainer.

I don't think any one would doubt that they are made by the same maker.

They are very well thrown.

The glazes are good.

The bases are very tiny.

What I am wondering is, why put a fake mark on one and not the other?

I think they could be glaze tests.

climberg64 wrote:

What I am wondering is, why put a fake mark on one and not the other?

Sad to say this but probably for a laugh.

I was up and the V&A last week and it struck me that the shape of the Lucie Rie piece on the right in this photo is similar to a certain pottery from Baker Street.

They certainly were friends. I'll find a piece or two and post them in the other thread.

I have a couple of vases just like those shapes!

Yup - I'm assuming BA 'borrowed' from LR but we will never know

22 Crawford St. wrote:I was up and the V&A last week and it struck me that the shape of the Lucie Rie piece on the right in this photo is similar to a certain pottery from Baker Street.

They certainly were friends. I'll find a piece or two and post them in the other thread.

Crawford, are those the George Cook birds?

I think they are Margi Hine pigeons

Yes, they are by Margaret Hine, who was a student and later wife of William Newland. The other vase that it partly in shot is by Dan Arbeid.

I'm confused, did Cook ever make birds?

I believed he did but others did too and some potters still make them.

Going back to the Lucie Rie pieces, No.17 is in porcelain and was bought directly from Lucie in 1959 for six quid and No.18, which is stoneware, at the same time for a fiver.

More like a dish but probably a stylish saucer with no cup holding rim. A few LR marks around but looks good. No cups just saucers 😶

Do you think saucer?