Studio Pottery Auction World Record
There were a few seconds of stunned silence as the new world record for any work
of studio pottery was established in Exeter before the saleroom erupted into applause.
The stoneware piece by Hans Coper sold for an astounding £305,000.
A stoneare cycladic vase (SS4/129) by Hans Coper (1920-1981) sold for £305,000 setting
the auction world record for any studio pottery.
It took nearly 25 minutes of cautious bidding to establish a new world record in
Exeter for a work by the studio potter Hans Coper. The saleroom of Bearnes
Hampton & Littlewood reacted with an incredulous few seconds of silence before
erupting into applause when the hammer finally dropped at £305,000.
Consigned during a routine valuation day in Devon, ceramics specialist Nic Saintey
said he was astounded when it appeared from the bottom of a shoe box. The lady owner
knew it was by Coper as she and her husband had been avid collectors in 1970's London.
She had no idea how much it was worth and was shocked to hear it might make £10,000.
Described by the auctioneers in Devon as a stoneware cycladic form, it surpasses
the previous high for any piece of studio pottery.
Coper fled Nazi Germany in 1935 and at the end of the War, despite having no
previous experience, he went to work for Lucie Rie, the renowned potter
who herself had fled Austria a few years later.
Although he became a strong potter in his own right, he preferred to alter his pieces
once they were removed from the wheel. In 1958, he left Lucie Rie to set up his
own studio in Hammersmith and became strongly influenced by ancient Aegean artefacts
that curiously gave his works a distinctly modern appeal. The previous record for
any work by Hans Coper was set in 2011 when £181,000 was paid for a mural.
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Hans Coper
Social Bookmarks
Please click the following links to flag this article to other people on the Internet.