2425402 The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weiss Ceramics

“To

make pots is an adventure to me, every new work is a new beginning. Indeed I shall never cease to be a pupil. There seems to the casual onlooker little variety in ceramic shapes and designs but to the lover of pottery there is an endless variety of the most exciting kind. And there is nothing sensational about it only a silent grandeur and quietness.”

LUCIE RIE, ‘CREDO’, CIRCA 1951

Lucie Rie holding an unfired pot, circa 1980. Photography by Times Newspapers Ltd. Mark Pepper / The Times / News Licensing © Estate of Lucie Rie. From the collections of the Crafts Study University for the Creative Arts, UK, RIE/20/1/11.

The residence of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, New York

AN EYE FOR MODERN

Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis were passionate, patient, and keen collectors, acquiring over the span of more than fifty years a distinguished collection of superlative works by revolutionary artists such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Max Ernst, as well as transformational British ceramicists Lucie Rie and her peer, close friend, and one-time collaborator Hans Coper. Housed between the Weis’ homes in Sunbury, Pennsylvania and New York City, this broad collection functioned as a living dialogue and a corporeal map charting the birth and evolution of modern art. Works from Europe and the United States coexisted in intimate proximity, offering with each viewing new juxtapositions and resonances.

Robert’s expertise in business informed his collecting habits. As chairman of Weis Markets, Inc., a food retailer founded by Robert’s father and uncle in 1912, Robert patiently oversaw the company’s growth and expansion over many years. Following his graduation from Yale University, Robert worked in many capacities at the family firm, including marketing, distribution, and operations. Deep experience gained from the corporate world along with an abiding thirst for knowledge influenced Robert’s discerning collecting habits. Supplementing his frequent visits to galleries and museums, Robert would pour over monographs in his living room — ever the student — in search of works he wished to acquire.

Patricia, Robert’s wife of fifty-seven years — a partner in life and collecting — shared her husband’s penchant for art and knowledge. She graduated from Bard College, where she played an important role as a trustee and loyal alumna of the Class of 1952. She supported scholarships, a professorship in Jewish History and

Patricia and Robert Weis, with Pablo Picasso, La Lecture (Marie-Thérèse), 1932. Courtesy of the Weis Family.

2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Culture, and a new wing in the library, among other endeavors. This educational stewardship, shared by her husband, expanded to other organizations such as Franklin & Marshall College, where the couple established both the Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis Professorship in Judaic Studies and the Weis College House. They also supported the Cardiovascular Research Foundation of Boston, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera, among other causes.

As a backdrop to their deep philanthropic commitment to art, culture, and intellectual life, Robert and Patricia formed one of the most important collections of twentieth-century art in the United States. Among the outstanding works housed in the collection is an impressive group of vessels by star British ceramicists LucieRie(1902-1995)andHansCoper(1920-1981).Patricia’spassionforpost-war British Studio ceramics transformed the collection, and, in the process, produced an arresting discourse between objects. Like the dynamic brushstrokes animating Franz Kline’s Placidia, or Mark Rothko’s ethereal color fields in No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), the radiating sgraffito and refined inlays of Rie’s ceramics and Coper’s layered porcelain slips over stoneware vessels engage the viewer philosophically and psychologically.

Both artists transcend their chosen medium thereby redefining their utilitarian wares as sculptural masterworks. In the crucible of the kiln, Rie’s manganese glazes run — uncharted — down the vessels’ rims; and Coper’s highly textured surfaces transform during the firing process. The artists juxtaposed these qualities with more familiar forms and motifs, offering the viewer recognizable anchors amidst abstraction. Coper’s Cycladic forms evoke prehistoric sensibilities as if long forgotten totems were rediscovered and whose presence remains vivid. In turn, Rie’s bowls and statuesque vases conjure visions of ancient ceremonial objects.

“I am a potter, but he was an artist.”

LUCIE RIE ON HANS COPER

The Artistry of Lucie Rie and Hans Coper From Both Sides

ISABELLA SMITH

Through their radically inventive approaches to ceramics, Lucie Rie (1902–1995) and Hans Coper (1920–1981) reshaped what modern studio pottery could be. Speaking towards the end of her six-decade career, Rie said of Coper, her friend and former colleague: ‘I am a potter, but he was an artist.’ This distinction between potter and artist is not one that is universally agreed upon. Though Rie insisted that the humbler term ‘potter’ described her practice best, others disagreed.

In their hands, clay – in Coper’s sculptural vessels and Rie’s tableware and vases – was more than simply a functional medium. While their pieces can be used in a practical sense, they exist equally as aesthetic objects. They have the quality that ceramic artist and writer Alison Britton dubbed ‘double presence’ (The Maker’s Eye, 1982): they are both ‘prose objects’ and ‘poetic objects,’ which is to say, simultaneously functional and sculptural. Britton wrote: ‘To me the most moving things are the ones where I experience in looking at them a frisson from both aspects at once.’ It is this frisson that we find in Coper and Rie’s best work.

Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, London circa 1958 © Jane Coper and the estates of the artists, Courtesy of The Lucie Rie and Hans Coper Foundation.

Consider a typical slim-footed bowl by Rie. These now-classic designs appear almost to float on their narrow base; hardly a practical design choice were one to use the bowl, but one that elevates it, quite literally, from familiarity (a functional bowl) to something other (bowl-as-sculpture). The ‘double presence’ is less immediately apparent in Coper’s overtly sculptural vessels; while Rie was influenced by the form of ancient Roman bowls, Coper drew inspiration from Greek Cycladic figurines and the sculpture of Constantin Brancusi. Nevertheless, you will find it in the photographs of Coper’s vessels filled with grasses, leaves and flowers on display in Rie’s apartment, or in the set of six twometer-high candlesticks he made for Coventry Cathedral in 1962.

A Cycladic Marble Reclining Female Figure, Late Spedos Variety, Early Cycladic II, circa 2500-2400 B.C. Sold at Christie’s, New York, 13 October 2020, lot 18.

Constantin Brâncusi (1876–1957), Vue de l’atelier, circa 1924–1925, gelatin silver print, artist’s sketch in pencil (verso). Sold at Christie’s, New York, 6 October 2021, lot 44.

Hans Coper pots at the Hammersmith Studio circa 1965 © Jane Coper and the estates of the artists, Courtesy of The Lucie Rie and Hans Coper Foundation.

Such presence is unlikely to be achieved without remarkable technical skill. That Rie threw while dressed in white or grey – leaving the wheel with clothes still unblemished – speaks to her elegance, fastidiousness and, of course, her superlative technique. While studying in Vienna in the 1920s, she had been taught to throw using only a minimal amount of water, with no tray to catch splashes. After her escape from Nazi-occupied Austria to London in 1938, she was surprised by the messiness of British-trained potters – and dismayed by disinterest in her continental modernist style, in a nation of potters still dominated by the ‘Anglo-Oriental’ aesthetic of Bernard Leach.

Lucie Rie, ceramic buttons, 1945-1947, L64, Sainsbury Centre, UEA. Photo: © James Austin. © Estate of Lucie Rie.

When Rie met Coper, he was a Jewish refugee like her; unlike her, he had never touched clay, but did draw and paint. In 1946, Rie gave him work in her ‘Button Factory’: a workshop where she employed refugees to make ceramic buttons, buckles and other small accessories. Sensing Coper’s potential, she sent him on a week-long throwing course. Remarkably, he returned proficient. Despite the 18-year age gap, the pair became close friends, and Coper helped Rie regain confidence in her European modernist style. After the war, they entered a pottery partnership, making elegant tableware in a monochrome palette of off-white, matt chocolate brown and glossy black.

Hans Coper at Albion Mews circa 1960 © Jane Coper and the estates of the artists, Courtesy of The Lucie Rie and Hans Coper Foundation.

“DON’T, please DON’T, either of you, heed what ‘they’ say — about wanting novelty and change. Your steadfastness and integrity as potters, your following your own path, is what keeps your work so fine and good and unsullied.”

ROBIN TANNER, 1950S, IN A LETTER TO LUCIE RIE AND HANS COPER

In some ways, those buttons predicted Rie’s vividly hued later work. Couturiers would show Rie a swatch of cloth and in a couple of days, she would have developed a button with texture and colour to match – a feat of glaze chemistry. In the colour palette, glaze materials and range of these humble objects, there are echoes of her celebrated bowls of the 1970s and ’80s. Unlike most potters, she always raw-glazed her work: applying glaze to unfired (rather than once-fired) clay, a technique that in less skilful hands would lead to pots collapsing.

For Coper’s part, the monochrome palette of the tableware made together during those post-war years developed into a more austere aesthetic all his own. In 1958, he left their cramped London workshop for a studio in the Hertfordshire countryside, where his work could grow in scale and ambition. As Rie’s pots became increasingly jewel-like – emerald green, turquoise, pink and yellow glazes, metal-toned rims and lines of sgraffito or inlay – his became more matt and textural, in off-whites, buff, brown and black.

Coper experimented with burnishing or scouring his surfaces, abrading either the clay itself, layered dark oxides or white slips – and focused, above all, on form. He developed a series of distinct forms he termed Spade, Bud, Cup, Egg, Flower and Arrow. These were thrown at the wheel, either in their entirety or in separate sections to be assembled by hand. The results have often been described as totemic, with a timeless quality that bridges the ancient and the modern.

Hans Coper, two vessels, from the Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis.

Today, the work of Rie and Coper stands as the pinnacle of British studio ceramics of the 20th century, carrying with them a legacy of friendship, innovation and uncompromising artistry.

ISABELLA SMITH, writer and editor. Her first book, Lucie Rie, was published by Eiderdown Books in 2022. Her writing has appeared in Frieze, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, and World of Interiors. She previously served as senior editor at Apollo magazine. She holds a master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she specialized in the use of raw clay in 1970s performance art.

Photograph of vessels by Hans Coper filled with flowers in the Albion Mews pottery, 1950. © Estate of Lucie Rie. From the collections of the Crafts Study University for the Creative Arts, UK, RIE/20/5/11/9/2.

Lucie Rie at the wheel in Vienna, circa 1935. From the Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, CFC/1/3.

© Estate of Lucie Rie.

“Lucie Rie’s pots reveal an instinct for powerful concision, for the paring back of forms, textures, functions: to the essential. Her life reveals someone who was able to get to the point.”

EDMUND DE WAAL, “MODERN THINGS”, 2023

Please find additional cataloguing information for all lots on pages 58–61

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1984 stoneware with pitted white glaze and manganese rim 4¾ in. (12 cm) high, 6¾ in. (17.2 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $40,000-60,000

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1976 porcelain with manganese glaze and radiating sgraffito and inlaid design 4º in. (10.8 cm) high, 9¡ in. (23.8 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $40,000-60,000

impressed

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1982 stoneware, blue glaze with bronze lip and manganese drip 3¾ in. (9.5 cm) high, 6¼ in. (15.8 cm) diameter

with artist’s seal $40,000-60,000

RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1984 porcelain with pink radiating inlay and turquoise and manganese bands 5 in. (10.6 cm) high, 9 in. (22.8 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal $60,000-80,000

LUCIE

HANS COPER (1920-1981) Large ‘Spade’ Form, circa 1966 stoneware with layered white porcelain slips and engobes over a textured and incised body with manganese glaze

12½ x 8¼ x 4¾ in. (31.8 x 21 x 14.5 cm) impressed with artist’s seal $70,000-100,000

HANS COPER (1920-1981) Bottle with Disc Top and Indents, circa 1971 stoneware with layered white porcelain slips and engobes over a textured and incised body, the neck and disc with manganese glaze 5¾ (14.6 cm) high, 5 in. (12.7 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $30,000-50,000

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1980 stoneware with inlaid pink lines and vivid blue band over blue-grey body 4 in. high (10.2 cm) high, 7¼ in. (18.4 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $20,000-30,000

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Vase with Flaring Lip, circa 1981 stoneware with white glaze, green radiating sgraffito inlay, and gold lip and running bands 10¾ in. (27.3 cm) high, 5¾ in. (14.6 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $20,000-30,000

impressed with artist’s seal $30,000-50,000

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1982 porcelain, emerald green glaze with bronze lip and manganese speckle 3¾ in. (9.5 cm) high, 8 in. (20.3 cm) diameter

RIE (1902-1995) Vase with Flaring Lip, circa 1970 stoneware, mixed clays thrown together to produce an integral spiral below the glaze 6¼ x 3¾ x 3¼ in. (15.8 x 9.5 x 8.2 cm) impressed with artist’s seal $6,000-8,000

LUCIE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Vase with Fluted Body and Flaring Lip, circa 1975 stoneware with matte gray glaze, manganese speckle, and deep diagonal fluting 7¼ in. (18.4 cm) high, 5⅜ in. (13.7 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $10,000-15,000

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995) Footed Bowl, circa 1984 porcelain with yellow glaze and manganese running rim 5⅛ in. (13 cm) high, 7 in. (17.8 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal $25,000-35,000

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, London

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1984

stoneware with pitted white glaze and manganese rim

4æ in. (12 cm) high, 6æ in. (17.2 cm)

diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$40,000-60,000

International Contemporary Ceramics, Bonham’s, London, 20 September 2005, lot 114

Acquired from the above by the present owner

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie: a survey of her life and work, exh. cat., Crafts Council and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1981, p. 89, no. 215 (for a related example)

C. Frankel, Modern Pots. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & their Contemporaries: The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, London, 2000, p. 127 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie - a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 236, 328, no. 179 (for a related example)

PROVENANCE

Fischer Fine Art Ltd., London

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1976

porcelain with manganese glaze and radiating sgraffito and inlaid design

4º in. (10.8 cm) high, 9⅜ in. (23.8 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$40,000-60,000

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1986

EXHIBITED

London, Fisher Fine Art Ltd., Nine Potters, September–October 1986, pp. 21, 27, no. 89 (present lot illustrated)

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie: a survey of her life and work, exh. cat., Crafts Council and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1981, p. 88, no. 206 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 114, 148, cat. 15.14 (for a related example)

C. Frankel, Modern Pots. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & their Contemporaries: The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, London, 2000, p. 117 (for a related example)

E. Cooper, Lucie Rie : modernist potter, London, 2012, nos. 89, 95 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, front cover and pp. 98, 237 (for a related example)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the British Museum, London (inv. no. 2012,8022.19).

PROVENANCE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1982

stoneware, blue glaze with bronze lip and manganese drip

3¾ in. (9.5 cm) high, 6º in. (15.8 cm)

diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$40,000-60,000

Studio Pottery, Christie’s, London, 26 November 1998, lot 162

Acquired from the above by the present owner

LITERATURE

T. Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 2009, p. 217 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 210-211, 327, no. 159, 248, 329, no. 190 (for related examples)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, pp. 131, 238 (for a related example)

PROVENANCE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1984

porcelain with pink radiating inlay and turquoise and manganese bands

5 in. (10.6 cm) high, 9 in. (22.8 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$60,000-80,000

Contemporary Ceramics, Bonham’s, London, 18 May 2004, lot 119

Acquired from the above by the present owner

LITERATURE

Issey Miyake meets Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Sogetsu Gallery, Tokyo and Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1989, pp. 36, 114, no. 84 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Babcock Galleries, New York, 1994, n.p. (for a related example)

T. Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 2009, p. 185 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 212, no. 160, 232-233, no. 175 (for related examples)

E. Cooper, Lucie Rie : modernist potter, London, 2012, no. 98 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, pp. 140-141, 238 (for a related example)

I. Smith, Lucie Rie, Bath, 2022, front cover (for a related example)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. C.43-1982).

PROVENANCE

Babcock Galleries, New York

HANS COPER (1920-1981)

Large ‘Spade’ Form, circa 1966

stoneware with layered white porcelain slips and engobes over a textured and incised body with manganese glaze

12Ω x 8º x 4¾ in. (31.8 x 21 x 14.5 cm)

impressed with artist’s seal

$70,000-100,000

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1994

EXHIBITED

New York, Babcock Galleries, Hans Coper, November 1994–January 1995, n.p. (present lot illustrated)

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie / Hans Coper: Masterworks by two British potters, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, front cover (for a related example)

M. Coatts, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 96, 144, cat. 12.4 (for a related example)

C. Frankel, Modern Pots. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & their Contemporaries: The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, London, 2000, pp. 10, 25-26, 29 (for related examples)

T. Birks, Hans Coper, Yeovil, 2005, frontispiece and pp. 172-173 (for a related example)

The Essential Potness. Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2014, pp. 61, 168-169, 176-177 (for related examples)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (inv. no. A 4477 (KN&V)).

PROVENANCE

HANS COPER (1920-1981)

Bottle with Disc Top and Indents, circa 1971

stoneware with layered white porcelain slips and engobes over a textured and incised body, the neck and disc with manganese glaze

5¾ (14.6 cm) high, 5 in. (12.7 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal

$30,000-50,000

Private Collection, The Netherlands

Galerie Besson, London

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1997

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf, 1980, no. 1 (for a related example)

M. Coatts, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 89, 143, cat 10.15 (for a related example)

The Essential Potness. Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2014, pp. 148-149 (for a related example)

PROVENANCE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1980

stoneware with inlaid pink lines and vivid blue band over blue-grey body

4 in. high (10.2 cm) high, 7º in. (18.4 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$20,000-30,000

Bonham’s, London, 10 May 2005, lot 144

Acquired from the above by the present owner

PROVENANCE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Vase with Flaring Lip, circa 1981

stoneware with white glaze, green radiating sgraffito inlay, and gold lip and running bands

10¾ in. (27.3 cm) high, 5¾ in. (14.6 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$20,000-30,000

Crafts Council Shop, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1982

Harley Carpenter & Geof Walker, The Berkeley Collection, London Phillips de Pury & Company, London, 27 September 2011, lot 49

Acquired from the above by the present owner

EXHIBITED

London, Crafts Council Gallery, Lucie Rie, January–April 1992, no. 14.13 Vienna, MAK, Lucie Rie: Gebrannte Erde, July–September 1999, no. 136

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie: a survey of her life and work, exh. cat., Crafts Council and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1981, p. 64, no. 41 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 92, 143. cat. 11.10 (for a related example) C. Frankel, Modern Pots. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & Their Contemporaries: The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, London, 2000, p. 133 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 200, 327, no. 149 (for a related example)

PROVENANCE

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1982

porcelain, emerald green glaze with bronze lip and manganese speckle

3¾ in. (9.5 cm) high, 8 in. (20.3 cm) diameter impressed with artist’s seal

$30,000-50,000

Studio Pottery, Christie’s, London, 26 November 1998, lot 157

Acquired from the above by the present owner

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie / Hans Coper: Masterworks by two British potters, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, pp. 8, 31, cat no. R32 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 115, 148, cat 15.20 (for a related example)

T. Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 2009, p. 162 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 240, 328, no. 183, 241, 328, no. 184 (for related examples)

E. Cooper, Lucie Rie : modernist potter, London, 2012, no. 99 (for a related example)

The Essential Potness. Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2014, pp. 132-133 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, pp. 105, 238 (for a related example)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. C.44-1982).

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, Cologne

Erskine, Hall & Coe, London

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Vase with Flaring Lip, circa 1970

stoneware, mixed clays thrown together to produce an integral spiral below the glaze

6º x 3¾ x 3º in. (15.8 x 9.5 x 8.2 cm) impressed with artist’s seal

$6,000-8,000

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2019

EXHIBITED

London, Erskine, Hall & Coe, Lucie Rie, June–July 2018

LITERATURE

Issey Miyake meets Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Sogetsu Gallery, Tokyo and Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1989, pp. 45, 109, no. 61 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie and Hans Coper–Potters in Parallel, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1997, pp. 91, 143, cat. 11.5 (for a related example)

T. Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 2009, pp. 183, 189 (for related examples)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 196-197, 327, no. 146 (for a related example)

E. Cooper, Lucie Rie : modernist potter, London, 2012, nos. 75, 89 (for related examples)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, pp. 125, 238 (for a related example)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. C.42-1982).

PROVENANCE

Babcock Galleries, New York

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Vase with Fluted Body and Flaring

Lip, circa 1975

stoneware with matte gray glaze, manganese speckle, and deep diagonal fluting

7º in. (18.4 cm) high, 5¡ in. (13.7 cm)

diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$10,000-15,000

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1994

EXHIBITED

New York, Babcock Galleries, Lucie Rie, November 1994–January 1995, front cover (present lot illustrated)

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf, 1980, no. 2 (for a related example)

Lucie Rie: A Survey of Her Life and Work, exh. cat., Crafts Council, 1981, p. 52, no. 28 (for a related example)

Issey Miyake meets Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Sogetsu Gallery, Tokyo and Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1989, pp. 44, 111, no. 71

Lucie Rie / Hans Coper: Masterworks by two British potters, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, pp. 16, 31, no. R34 (for a related example)

C. Frankel, Modern Pots. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & their Contemporaries: The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, London, 2000, p. 123 (for a related example)

T. Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 2009, p. 69 (present lot illustrated)

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 208-209, 327, no. 157, 244, 329, no. 188 (for related examples)

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, exh. cat., Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2022, pp. 89, 237 (for a related example)

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, London

Galerie Besson, London

LUCIE RIE (1902-1995)

Footed Bowl, circa 1984

porcelain with yellow glaze and manganese running rim

5⅛ in. (13 cm) high, 7 in. (17.8 cm) diameter

impressed with artist’s seal

$25,000-35,000

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1995

LITERATURE

Lucie Rie–a retrospective, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 237, 328, no. 181 (for a related example)

E. Cooper, Lucie Rie : modernist potter, London, 2012, no. 93 (for a related example)

The Essential Potness. Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2014, pp. 102-103 (for a related example)

A related example can be found in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. C.45-1982).

All Artworks by Lucie Rie and Hans Coper © Estates of the Artists.

20/21 MARQUEE WEEK

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17 November 2025

IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART DAY SALE

18 November 2025

POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART DAY SALE

20 November 2025

DESIGN

11 December 2025 / March 2026

EXHIBITION

For more information, please visit christies.com or contact us at info@christies.com tel: +1 212 636 2000

CONTACT

Victoria Tudor

vtudor@christies.com

+1 718 710 2136

CHIEF AUCTIONEER

Adrien Meyer

FURTHER INFORMATION

This is not a sale catalogue. The sale of these lots are subject to the Conditions of Sale, Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice which are set out online, with other important sale information at christies.com.

ROBERT F. AND PATRICIA G. ROSS WEIS