Saleroom Spotlight: In our second

SALEROOM SPOTLIGHT

Described as the “single most important collection of studio ceramics ever to come to market”, pottery owned by the American collector Dr John Driscoll is on sale this month

Like many collectors, the New York art dealer Dr John Driscoll, who died last year aged 70, sought out pieces with an exceptional provenance and which told a story.

Of the 180 pieces on sale this month from his unparalleled collection, two spring to mind. One was a bowl and saucer which the Vienna-born potter Lucie Rie (1902-1995), hid in clothes to smuggle it out of pre-war Austria in a suitcase (below); the other is in lighter vein. It is a vase by Rie’s colleague and fellow refugee Hans Coper (1920-1981), which he swapped with his local school in Frome for a goat named Jennea.

Above A selection of pieces by Lucie Rie is up for sale this month

Left Lucie Rie (19021995), early and rare bowl and saucer, c. 1936, cup 4.3cm high, 14cm in diameter, has an estimate of £4,000£6,000

Above right The collector Dr John Driscoll at home, photo credit Emily Driscoll

Right Ladi Kwali (19251984) Airplane Water pot, 1962, 31.6cm high, 34.5cm in diameter, has an estimate of £6,000£9,000

Far right Ladi Kwali (1925-1984) in her studio in Gwari, Nigeria

Alongside those pieces are exceptional examples of ceramic art by the masters of British studio ceramics including Bernard Leach, Hamada Shoji, Lucie Rie, James Tower, Elizabeth Fritsch, Gordon Baldwin, Ewen Henderson and Edmund de Waal, as well as exceptional examples of African, Japanese and Danish ceramics.

THE COLLECTOR

In the ‘70s, Dr Driscoll was introduced to ceramics while working under Bill Hull, director of the Penn State Museum of Art. Hull’s 1976 exhibition Twenty-Four British Potters ignited Driscoll’s four-decade passion and drive to build a comprehensive survey of studio ceramics from the 20th century.

He told Glenn Adamson, author of the book Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery: “My first purchases from the Twenty-Four British Potters show were outstanding works, yet economically modest… After I bought those initial pots, I was just viscerally, intellectually, and aesthetically energised, and focused on the quest to see more and acquire more…”

Driscoll’s interest in studio ceramics went beyond the aesthetic as he built relationships with some of the century’s greats including Lucie Rie, Elizabeth Fritsch and Ewen Henderson. Every year, Driscoll visited the UK to meet the potters he admired and collected – seeking out pots from different points in each artist’s career, with the aim to tell each artist’s story within his collection. In doing so, Driscoll combined an academic approach to collecting with a passion to experience the pieces in his home.

THE POTTERS

Lucie Rie came to England in the late 1930s as a refugee. By the time she arrived in London, at the age of 36 in 1938, she was already a talented potter having studied ceramics at the prestigious Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Art and Design) in Vienna (Rie won a gold medal at the Brussels International Exhibition of 1935 as well as other European accolades). By 1946 she

had set up Albion Mews Pottery from a rented flat in London where she met German-born Hans Coper, then a penniless refuge looking for work. They went on to create some of the 20th-century’s greatest ceramics.

Thousands of miles away in Nigeria in 1951, Ladi Kwali, whose work also features in the sale, became the first female student of Abuja pottery school set up by Michael Cardew, a former student of Bernard Leach.

By the time she joined the school, Kwali was already a talented, professional potter working in the style of northern Gwari tradition having learned to make hand-built pots when she was a child. She went on to become famous for her experimental and innovative works merging the Gwari style she was proficient at with the modern techniques, creating glazed dishes, bowls and beakers.

Maak Contemporary Ceramics will offer more pieces from Dr Driscoll’s collections in a series of sales in 2022 and 2023.

‘The sale includes a monumental vase by Lucie Rie’s colleague and fellow refugee Hans Coper which he swapped with his local school in Frome for a goat named Jennea’ AUCTION fact file

WHAT: The Art of Fire: Selections from the Collection of Dr John P Driscoll, in conjunction with Maak Ceramics When: November 10 Where: Phillips, 30 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EX Viewing: November 3-10 at Phillips

Above left Hans Coper (1920-1981). Monumental ovoid pot, c. 1968, has an estimate of £80,000-£120,000

Above Hans Coper (1920-1981). Monumental ‘Writhlington School’ pot, 1972, 77cm high. Impressed with the artist’s seal and inscribed 1X1972 HC To Writhlington School. Thank you for Jennea the Goat. The pot has an estimate of £80,000£120,000

IN MY OPINION...

We asked Marijke VarrallJones, the founder of Maak Ceramics, for her sale highlights What makes the sale so important?

As a historic painting dealer, John Driscoll fully appreciated the importance of capturing the history and provenance of an object. While this approach wasn’t always fully valued at the time by other collectors who bought mainly for aesthetic reasons, over time, as the movement has matured, this aspect has become much more important.

In many cases, these are the pots we see in books having been selected for seminal exhibitions, the pots given as gifts between artists and the pots that had special meaning to the artists and which remained in their personal collections.

Do you have a favourite piece?

The piece that stands out for me is the bowl and saucer by Lucie Rie (far left). It is a very early example made when she was still in Vienna in around 1936. The simplicity of the form is pure European modernism. Having smuggled it out of Nazi Austria, it remained in her collection for the rest of her life. John Driscoll bought it in 1997 at Bonhams’ sale of her Estate.

How is the current market for studio ceramics?

The market has been on a steady incline for the last 10 years or so but has seen the most significant growth in the last three to five years. This reflects the growing recognition that ceramics represent a creative expression equal to a painting or sculpture but, in terms of pricing, are significantly more accessible. Pots, even by the true masters of studio ceramics, can still be acquired for just a few hundred pounds so it isn’t an unrealistic ambition to start building a collection of significance. Increasingly in times of uncertainty people are drawn to the unique quality of the hand-made as representing something that connects.

Above Lucie Rie (1902-1995), footed bowl, c. 1976, 11.6cm high, 22.5cm in diameter, has an estimate of £50,000-£70,000