For the 15th edition of The New York Ceramics Fair, its 29 dealers were each tasked with the hard decision of selecting one highlight from among their splendid offerings, which go on view when the show opens in the Grand Ballroom at the Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street, from January 22-26, 2014.
Here is an armchair guide to the dealers’ booths and their chosen highlight:
New York’s Leo Kaplan Ltd. (4) is showcasing an English pearlware Toby jug that personifies Bacchus. This important specimen is decorated in underglaze Pratt colors and dates from around 1790.
Specialists in American pottery, porcelain and glass, The Stradlings Antiquarians (17) of New York are highlighting an Indian-corn-design pitcher by Charles Cartlidge of Green Point, NY. It is 11 inches tall and was made around 1854 for Edmund Jones’s Claremont resort hotel, which was popular with pleasure-seeking New Yorkers of the era. The pitcher’s mate was featured in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1989.
Ian Simmonds American Glass (17) of Carlisle, PA. throws a spotlight on an 11-inch-tall crystal covered compote, or sweetmeat dish, that was made in New York City sometime between 1850 and 1860.
Kinghams Art Pottery (3)—leading international dealers in British art pottery, including Martin Brothers, Wedgwood Fairyland and William De Morgan—is drawing attention to an arresting Martin Brothers stoneware face jug dated 1903.
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge (16), experts in 18th- and 19th-century English and Chinese export pottery and porcelain as well as vintage Fornasetti ceramics, is drawing attention to a 13-inch English Delftware Adam and Eve dish made in Bristol circa 1700-20. The plate is decorated in polychrome with a sponged blue border and a central scene of the Edenic couple with the serpent entwined around a tree and with an apple in its mouth.
Baltimore’s Moylan–Smelkinson The Spare Room (24), known for its authority on Georgian and Victorian jewelry, 18th- and 19th-century English ceramics in Japan patterns, whimsical figurative collectibles and decorative objects, is accentuating a vibrant Worcester soft-paste porcelain dessert dish from the Flight and Barr period, circa 1800.
From London comes a late-18th-century Staffordshire English slipware oblong dish that is 17 inches long and is the highlighted specimen on view from Rodney Woolley (15), leading professionals in ceramics and works of art.
Maria and Peter Warren Antiques (23) of Wilton, CT., is giving prominence to a cylindrical polychrome English cream-ware teapot in the Chintz pattern, with beautifully entwined rope handles and knob, both ending in foliate terminals. Made in Staffordshire or Yorkshire around 1790, this beautiful creation has a spout that is molded at the base with acanthus leaves.
Hailing from Boston, Katherine Houston Porcelain (14), which focuses on 18th-century techniques to create 21st-century porcelain objets d’art, is drawing special attention to one of her singular creations: a stunning gourd decorated with organic motifs inspired by 18th-century lacquered panels in the Ca’ Rezzonico museum in Venice.
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates (13) of Mount Crawford, VA., is shining light on a 12-inch-tall Eagle-decorated stoneware jar, circa 1815. Crafted by James Miller of Alexandria, VA, the piece comes from the collection of the late John and Lil Palmer of Purcellville, VA.
Putting front and center a rare, circa-1745 blackware bowl with Jacobite interest is Garry Atkins (21) of London, a leading authority on early English pottery.
London’s Roderick Jellicoe, specialist in 18th-century English porcelain, is beckoning appreciative eyes to a Chelsea plate, bearing a red anchor mark, from the Duke of Cambridge service circa 1763-65, made for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850). A large part of the service was passed down to Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), upon whose death it was sold at Christies in 1904.
Coming to the Ceramics Fair from Virginia is Michelle Erickson (12), whose artist in residency at the Victoria & Albert Museum, gave her the opportunity to bring elements of the city into her practice. Rake’s Progress is the culmination of that exploration and experimentation that includes life-casting specimens foraged in the early hours at Billingsgate fish market and shells collected while mudlarking on the Thames. Inspired by a trip to William Hogarth’s 18th century home in Cheswick references to artifacts owned and used by the satirist are woven into a portrait bust of a character from his series of the same title.
Martyn Edgell Antiques Ltd. (11), specializing in British and European ceramics and centered in Cambridgeshire, England, has a real showstopper: a unique and important pair of Dublin Delft slippers, circa 1755.
Christopher Sheppard Glass (10) will showcase an Islamic mould blown glass jar of blue tint found in a Chinese junk off the Vietnamese coast, circa 12th century AD.
Master potter Cliff Lee (9) of Stevens, PA is accentuating a pair of striking yellow prickly melons he brought to fruition, which is also in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
John Howard at Heritage (8), coming to the show from Woodstock, Oxfordshire in England and bringing expertise in 18th- and 19th-century British pottery, is directing a focus to an 18th-century Wedgwood surface-decorated agateware 12-inch vase and cover, dating from 1775. Its serpent-shaped handles terminate in Bacchus masks.
Santos-London (7) is inviting scrutiny to a very rare pair of Chinese export porcelain candlesticks of European silver form. The stem rises from a tray supported by two iron-red dogs, decorated in opaque enamels from the famille rose palette, circa 1770. They originate from the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty.
Ferrin Contemporary (6) of Pittsfield, MA, has a mirthful plate that calls to mind the classic Blue Willow motif. Titled Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), After the By-Pass (Wild Rose) and by the artist Paul Scott, this 2012 creation was realized by placing an in-glaze decal collage featuring a station wagon and minivan onto an earthenware plate that dates from around 1850.
Concentrating in English and Continental table glass from the 18th-through 20th–centuries, Mark J. West (20) from Redhill, Surrey, England, is pointing up an eight-inch Belgian blue-over-topaz glass vase designed by Joseph Simon for Val St. Lambert.
From Shelter Island Heights, N.Y., a large dimpled stoneware pinch pot, made in 2013 by John Pagliaro (19), takes center stage at this stand.
Sylvia Powell Decorative Arts (5) of London gives prominence to a ceramic plate by Jean Cocteau, signed and dated by him in 1957 and inscribed “Villefranche.” Issued in an edition of 25, the plate is entitled La citadel de Villefrance and is 11 inches in diameter.
Established in 1986 and trading in Chinese and China trade porcelain, antique porcelain and pottery, and paintings, Philip Suval Inc. (18) of Fredericksburg, VA., calls attention to a very fine and rare Chinese porcelain vase and cover in famille rose and dating to around 1735.
Lynda Willauer Antiques (27): will feature a Chinese export porcelain underglaze blue octagonal deep dish with arms of Proctor, circa 1740, together with a pair of Chinese export porcelain underglaze blue and overglaze famille rose Mandarin flute vases, circa, 1770.
Based in Gilford, N.H., Mark and Marjorie Allen Antiques (33), specialists in tin-glazed pottery, are underscoring the rarity of a late-17th-century Bristol straight-sided small posset and cover. This exquisite object is decorated in the transitional Ming style in blue and manganese on a robin’s-egg ground.
Front and center at Haggerty Ceramics (32) is a work entitled Rainbow Luster Bowl, crafted by James and Linda Haggerty, proprietors of the Santa Barbara-based kiln. The foot-wide bowl is terra cotta and was multi-fired in heavy reduction, and it features eucalyptus-wood accents.
Aytek USA (31) specializes in the redesign of antique Iznik and Kutahya ceramics and tiles. Playing a leading role in its offerings is a replica of a 14th-century Seljukian star with Rumi center design (a symbol of eternity) and is in the classic blue and white of the early Iznik style. It was crafted by Nezihe Gulec of Kutahya, Turkey.
Martin Cohen (30) of New York, who concentrates on glass and ceramics from the 15th century through the 21st, has a contemporary focus with his iCup and iPlate series, made in 2013 by José Arias, a Dominican artist whose work is influenced by Surrealism, Islamic Art, animals and the interpretation of his dreams.
Anavian Gallery (28) of New York will feature an Achaemenid bull’s head rhyton that was made sometime between the 6th and 4th century BCE.
More info: www.newyorkceramicsfair.com
