THE ESTATE OF JANE COPER.Best Rie/COPER SALE EVER.......

https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/UK050523
From the estate of Jane Coper and the collection of Cyril Frankel. At Philips London early November. This may well be the best sale of Coper and Rie there has ever been. Given the impeccable provenance one would think auction records are going to be broken.
The above link is to a preview. There does not seem to be a full catalogue up as yet.

Not for the likes of us!! .................... so I don't think I'll register to bid.

Agreed Studio. But it is always fun looking at what the really rich spend their money on. In the hey days of the big studio auction sales of the 90's and Early 2000's I always enjoyed the opportunities of Auction previews at the Big London Auction Houses. Gawping at what ceramic riches the wealthy liked!
This is going to be a unique sale. With provenance second to none. It will actually be fascinating to see where the stratosphere of the studio market market is heading.

https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/UK050523

The catalogue of the above sale. Some fascinating items in this sale. A bronze bust of Lucie Rie made by Hans Coper. The original Lucie vase that was used in the set of 4 British postage studio pottery postage stamps stamps issued by Royal Mail.

An amazing sale Philpot, the late Cycladic pieces are almost the equal of the pieces in the Sainsbury collection and i imagine this will probably be the last opportunity that well heeled collectors will have to add this type to their collections. I was hoping that there would be more documentary items shown ,photos, sketches etc but i expect the family will be hanging on to those. I see that they have engaged Edmund De Waal to present the pots on a short video and surprisingly none are behind glass. I look forward to the auction.

"Engaged Edmund de Waal" a man who knows sweet FA about these types of ceramics and usually gets others to talk/write b*llsh*t about the crap that he makes.

I despair but hope sick bags are provided.

Laughing so much I was about to call a paramedic!!!!

studio-pots wrote:"Engaged Edmund de Waal" a man who knows sweet FA about these types of ceramics and usually gets others to talk/write b*llsh*t about the crap that he makes.

I despair but hope sick bags are provided.

Awww Studio your prejudices are showing!
I don't much like his work. But.....! He did a several year apprenticeship with Geoffrey Whiting. He has written numerous books books on Ceramics. He is a Good writer. His best selling book 'Hare With the Amber Eyes' was a very good read.

He’s also a good speaker; making some very good documentaries on Meissen etc

philpot wrote:

studio-pots wrote:"Engaged Edmund de Waal" a man who knows sweet FA about these types of ceramics and usually gets others to talk/write b*llsh*t about the crap that he makes.

I despair but hope sick bags are provided.

Awww Studio your prejudices are showing!
I don't much like his work. But.....! He did a several year apprenticeship with Geoffrey Whiting. He has written numerous books books on Ceramics. He is a  Good writer. His best selling book 'Hare With the Amber Eyes' was a very good read.

de Waal was taught at school by Geoffrey Whiting and, as you said, did an apprentice with him. In one of the first articles where he was interviewed (for the Times newspaper in their Saturday edition) he "bad-mouthed" Geoffrey and his work. Before that my only opinion on him was that he had been to Japan to research and write a book about Bernard Leach, in which he was less than complimentary about Bernard, and while there had seen the porcelain work of Tsubusa Kato, which he copied when he returned to the UK. After reading the Times article, I thought what an absolute b*stard, as did Geoffrey Whiting's son from what I have heard.

Before producing poor copies of Tsubusa Kato's work, de Waal had made rather boring stoneware pots in the Leach/Whiting style for years without getting noticed. Upon his return from Japan he told his former schoolfriends that he had found how to become famous - by producing porcelain and paying a PR company to lie about you, your importance and your work.

He is a better writer than a potter or artist, as his ceramic work doesn't contain a single original idea. So a decent writer perhaps but a top rate plagiarist he much be, as with the help of being well connected and PR is has become one of the top three highest priced ceramicists working in the UK.

Along the way he has proved that he is the most obnoxious, self-centred individual that you could possibly imagine and all the ceramic artists that I know that have had any dealings with him and have expressed an opinion to myself and others in private that opinion pretty much is theirs too. Obviously, if they say anything in public it will just be dismissed as "sour grapes", which I know is not the case. Hence why I like to do my little bit to tell the world what he's really like.

There are a number of potters who's work is very well respected but are real sh*ts when you have dealings with them. Should that detract from their work? I love de Waal's installations and his documentaries. Thankfully he's not someone I'm ever likely to meet in the flesh.

Should an artists personal opinions and behaviour effect one's opinions of them? Many of the artistic geniuses that we hold high were absolute swines in their day. With vile opinions on the work of their rivals. PR? Well that has made a lot of modern artists who are rubbish, into artistsof famous!
The quality of his work? Weeelllll, that is your opinion Studio. But the market definitely disagrees with you!

would you want to buy a pot from an unpleasant person?

denbydump wrote:would you want to buy a pot from an unpleasant person?

I could name a couple of unpleasant potters that most of us have in our collections
However, I’ve not bought 3 potters’ work at the Fairs because they’ve insulted fellow potters on Facebook - and I’m not talking about de Waal. Plenty more fish in the sea for us collectors.

Not buying a pot because you did not like their Social Media posts?
That is a new one om me!

Some very high prices in this auction, as you would expect. Lot 305 The black cycladic Arrow piece especially £647,700.Which was a staggering price. As lot 304 a similar white piece went for £240,000. Final Sale Prices of course, now include the Buyer's premium

A great sale, i did think of attending but decided to watch online, quite a marathon as the sale took around five hours for just over 100 lots. The black Cycladic piece was always going to be the star but a number of others vied for second place all at over £400,000, my personal favourite was lot331 which came in at just £457,000, only one lot left unsold in the whole sale.