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Minton rarities, Australian Pottery, American Ceramics – and more, Fresh to Stock

Welcome to an interesting Moorabool ‘Fresh Stock Release’.

Featured are a small collection of early Victorian ‘Staffordshire Cottages’ – pastille burners that were made as mini houses with working chimneys to allow the smoke out!

Minton Majolica 'Chinaman' teapot, bright majolica colours, 1874
Our latest character to arrive at Moorabool….

There’s a couple of rare British Pottery pieces, the most noticeable being the Minton Majolica ‘Chinaman’ teapot. This remarkable design is a ‘Minton Classic’, chosen in the 20th century as one of their reproduction lines – but ours is original, and very early: the design appears in the early 1870’s, and this example bears the date code for 1874.

He’s an interesting character, dressed in a magnificent flower-decorated pale blue coat and green pants incised with bamboo. His hair is in a thick platt, and loops around as the handle. He’s holding a mask, a ferocious dark character, from whose mouth protrudes the green-glaze spout. His head lifts off as the lid, and his hair is held up with a tall comb that acts as the knob – which brings to mind the possibility that this is in fact a woman!

The other notable item is a pair of ‘Moon Flasks’, the name & shape borrowed from the Chinese. These are painted with cherubs catching butterflies amongst apple blossom – so very Victorian!
They are signed by the artist, and this opens up an interesting background: two sisters, Eliza J. and Rosa J. Strutt, were employed at the London workshop known as ‘Minton’s Art Studio Pottery, South Kensington’. Minton had set this up in 1870 in South Kensington. These flasks are by Eliza J. Strutt.

Pair of Minton Art Studio Moonflasks, painted by Eliza J. Strutt, 1873

This fascinating Art Pottery studio actually owes its origins to the establishment of the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington. When this was being set up, the museum’s interior decorations were planned to include lavish tile panels, and Minton was commissioned to execute them. From this came the idea for a London based decorating studio; land was leased by Minton right next to the Royal Albert Hall – and they shared the smokestack used for their kilns with the heating apparatus for the hall!
The Minton Art Pottery Studio opened in 1871 with the great designer W.J. Coleman as the director. The blank pots were made at Minton, and decorated in the new studio by students from the Government’s ‘National Art Training Schools’. 3/4 of these were women, and a contemporary account stated ‘…it was worthy of notice as the only place in London devoted to the manufacture of high-class pottery’.
Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the complex in 1875 and it was never re-built.

An interesting Minton fact: there’s a change in the name/mark, illustrated perfectly in these two pieces: from 1873, the first mark ‘MINTON’ (as seen on the teapot) is changed to ‘MINTON’S’ (as seen on the vases).

MINTON MINTON'S marks, 1873 1874

British Pottery Rarities

Australian Pottery

Plus more!

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Fresh Stock – Australian Art, Indian Metalwares & Textiles, Studio Pottery, and more…

Welcome to our latest ‘Fresh Stock’ post.

It’s a great variety – Asian, Indian, and Australian!

We have a vast number of exciting English & Continental Ceramics coming in the next few weeks, for those who are looking for something a little ‘finer’ than today’s offerings….

Enjoy!

Asian Items

Indian Items

The Dawn of Moorcroft…. a William Moorcroft teapot, Macintyre-made 1898

James Macintyre & Co employed the ceramic artist William Moorcroft in 1897, where he was responsible for the introduction of the slip-decorated designs they called ‘Aurelian Ware’. This was of course to blossom into the famous Moorcroft firm when William left Macintyre in 1913 and set up his own works, with the help of Liberty’s of London.

This piece bears the registration number 311,909.
The British Registration numbers for 1897 ended with 311,657;  the registration of this teapot design was the 252nd for 1898, indicating it was probably prepared in 1897, the first year of William Moorcroft’s employment at Macintyre’s works, and submitted early in 1898. Despite the damage to the spout, it is a desirable rarity illustrating the beginning of the epic Moorcroft art form that continues to this day!

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Fresh Stock – English Watercolours, Sterling Boxes, Corkscrews – and more….

Robert Hollands Walker (1852-1920)

Welcome to the latest Fresh Stock release on Moorabool.com.

This week, a wide variety of interesting items awaits.

There’s a fine selection of quality English watercolours, including a beautiful landscape by William B. Thomas, and a pair of enticing little gems with a pre-Raphaelite feel by the virtually unknown artist William Took.

English Watercolours

William Took Watercolours
William Took Watercolours

English Watercolours

FRESH to Stock

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Fresh Stock, inc. The Grand Tour, a Wedgwood ‘Egyptian’ jug, Royal Collectables, a Marble Bust & more!

Welcome to our latest ‘Fresh Stock’.
This week, it’s a great variety, with some superb rarities in the ‘Grand Tour’ section, a fascinating selection of brass & bronze items, a marble bust, and a small selection of Royal Commemoratives.

Enjoy!

The Grand tour

The ’Grand Tour’ was the Englishman’s experience of travelling through the lands of the Ancient Roman & Greek worlds, and discovering the romance of Antiquity. It was philosophy, art, food, and culture, all very different to what was back in England – so there was naturally a desire to take some culture back as a souvenir. This could be a painting or two, or a piece of antiquity – even if it had just been made the week before….

The Grand Tourist: this fascinating watercolour by William Oliver shows the noted English artist on his ‘Grand Tour’, visiting the ruins of Hadrian’s fantastic Villa at Tivoli – resting amongst the crumbling brickwork, he is seen sketching some locals in their traditional Italian dress.
The bronze ewer below is a fine example of a ‘Grand Tour’ souvenir that was probably sold to an unsuspecting tourist… a familiar situation still confronts a tourist in many places today!

This fantastic Wedgwood rarity is also a mystery: marked ‘EGYPTIAN JUG’, it is clearly a GREEK style vessel!
It was made & marked by Wedgwood, for a Cambridge grocer, Woollard & Hattersley, one of a few examples where Wedgwood put on marks for their clients alongside their own.

Royalty

More FRESH to STOCK

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A Rare Wedgwood ‘Egyptian’ jug, 1854

Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854, at Moorabool Antiques, Geelong


This rare piece of Wedgwood came to Moorabool recently, and is quite a remarkable piece.

  • Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854, at Moorabool Antiques, Geelong
  • Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854
  • Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854, at Moorabool Antiques, Geelong
  • Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854, at Moorabool Antiques, Geelong
  • Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854, at Moorabool Antiques, Geelong

Rare Wedgwood ‘Egyptian Jug’, modelled in black basalt after an Ancient Greek oinochoe, with a faithful painted ‘black-figure’ style panel featuring a bird in flight flanked by two facing sphinx, defined by terracotta slip painted ground colour, with bands below to the foot & to the trefoil lip, the figures with white enamel highlights.

Large impressed registration triangle, with circular inscription “THE EGYPTIAN JUG / SOLD ONLY BY º / WOOLLARD & HATTERSLEY / CAMBRIDGE”. , also ‘WEDGWOOD” and modeller’s marks.

Wedgwood Egyptian Jug
Wedgwood Egyptian Jug

This rarity was made for Woollard & Hattersley, who had the design registered in April 1854 as ‘The Egyptian Jug’ (ref. British Museum’s description), and made at Wedgwood. Established in 1761, Woollard & Hattersley were grocers, who also listed themselves as ‘ University Providers’. Their adverts list the various beverages they stocked, no doubt in great demand in the many Cambridge University halls. This jug is sometimes listed as an ‘ale jug’, and would be quite useful as one – perhaps a promotional giveaway of the early Victorian period….

Greek original, Attic, 5th century BC


It is a superb example of the interest in re-imagining the classical world through the ‘revival’ movements – with one glaring mistake: although claiming to belong to the ‘Egyptian’ removal, it is in fact a faithful copy of a Corinthian Greek archaic style oinochoe, dating to the 6th century BC!

There were several versions made. Although apparently not in the literature, there are two examples in auction records that have a clue to the ambiguous ‘Egyptian’ naming: they are impressed-marked “THE CANTERBURY JUG” instead of “THE EGYPTIAN JUG” – but then the decorator of the jug has painted over the top of the impressed mark, with “EGYPTIAN” !

A- example @ Moorabool Antiques, solid black body with red painted background EGYPTIAN JUG
B- solid red ware example, the background painted in black – EGYPTIAN JUG
C- solid black, red printed registration diamond, red painted background CANTERBURY / EGYPTIAN
D- solid black, red printed registration diamond, red painted background CANTERBURY / EGYPTIAN

‘The Canterbury Jug ‘ was perhaps a reference to an example of a Greek oinochoe jug, in the collection of an antiquarian of the region, as yet untraced. The design was registered in 1854, but promptly re-named, as shown by examples with ‘Egyptian’ painted over ‘Canterbury’. The marking stamp was then modified for the following products, creating the inaccurate name ‘Egyptian Jug’. It is a rarity amongst Wedgwood products due to the registration & patron mark.

A curios example sold in America recently (C) bears the registration diamond for 1854, but also a painted inscription for the word ‘Egyptian’. Careful examination reveals a different impressed word beneath – ‘CANTERBURY’ – so originally it was inscribed ‘THE CANTERBURY JUG’. Another example was sold in America with the exact same feature (D), meaning it was not a unique production issue. We can conclude this mark was original, but for some reason, the name of the custom-order by Woollard & Hattersley was changed to ‘EGYPTIAN’. Subsequent productions also differ in the way the registration diamond is shown; one is printed on in red, while the other is impressed.

Wedgwood 'Egyptian' Jug, registered 1854
Based on a Corinthian Greek ‘Black Figure’ jug of the 6th century BC
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Tags – a Fresh way to browse our stock!

With over 10,000 items on moorabool.com, it’s always a struggle to find what you’re looking for.
For some time now, we’ve been adding ‘tags’ to every item – descriptive words that define the item.
We’re now pleased to launch our ‘Tag’ page…. a great way to see the variety we have in stock, and to find your particular areas of interest to browse.

You can access this browsing technique on any page in the main menu above – select ‘Browse our Stock’.

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Fresh Stock – from Children’s Chairs to Moser Glass

Welcome to the latest Fresh Stock release on moorabool.com . This is a terrifically diverse one, bringing together a series of small collections of interesting things for you to browse.

To start with: some Silver Brooches… wouldn’t they make lovely presents?

There’s some fine Ceramics, including superb quality Derby pieces from the early 19th century, one showing ‘ A View near Melbourn, Derbyshire’ !

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Asian Arts – Chinese & South-East Asian Ceramics

Welcome to our Asian Special.

We’re actually in Asia for this one! Paul & Glenys, your proprietors at Moorabool Antiques, are on a ‘China Expedition’ – visiting the sights & enjoying the unique culture that is China…..

Of course, this is not a ‘buying’ trip: China prohibits the export of anything that could be considered Antique. Rather, it is a fact-finding visit: exploring some of the regions where the Chinese items we are familiar with came from, and spending some time in the numerous Museums & Galleries and their fine collections of Chinese Art & Antiques…..

On our return, we will have a wealth of knowledge to draw on when cataloguing the incredible items from Asia which Australians are well known to have collected over the past few hundred years……

This stock release includes several such local collections of interesting Asian ceramics, including some over 1,000 years old.

Enjoy!

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Nod if you like Antiques….. a collection of ‘Nodders’ + other funny things.

Japanesque Nodders
Japanesque Nodders

Today’s Fresh Stock is a bit of a laugh…..

These classic bits of Victorian are the ultimate ….. ‘kitsch’!

A fair number of people will not like them at all…. but they’re still going to make you smile, no matter what!

The originals were actually probably Chinese temple figures, designed to look alive. An early European example can be found in the production of the Meissen factory in the mid 18th century – copying Chinese examples. It’s no surprise then that these late 19th century examples – made in Germany for English, American & Australian markets, amongst others – are also Asian in origin. They fit the definition of ‘Chinoiserie’, being entirely the product of European Imaginations of what they thought Chinese or Japanese characters looked like. A little off the mark with this example – the very pretty man with a magnificent moustache, flowing dress, and sun parasol over his shoulder – and a lovely big pink bow in his hair – he’s more of a German than an Asian!

A Nodders Committee: most agree, but there’s always one that disagrees…….

There’s some serious stock as well, don’t worry: although amongst these you’ll find some more ‘funnies’ – cartoon sketches which were probably printed in publications of the period.
But also some ‘serious’ ceramics, including Baxter Studio decorated Coalport, Rockingham, and 18th century French Faience.

Enjoy!

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Fresh stock – it’s almost Valentines Day!

Welcome to our latest Fresh Stock Release. This coming week brings Valentines Day, and we start things with a fantastic early Victorian example of a fancy ‘Valentines Day Card’.

SPRAGG Victorian Valentines Day Card, c.1860
SPRAGG Victorian Valentines Day Card, c.1860

Victorian Valentines Day cards were sent anonymously and often carried no message to the recipient. They had emerged as a trend in the earliest Victorian period, and grew in popularity as the century advanced. Technology led to elaborate mass production utilising die cut embossed ‘paper lacework’, as seen in this example, and chromolithography printing allowing multiple bright colours. The ‘Penny Post’ introduction in the 1840’s was the crucial component in the rise of the printed cards, allowing an admirer anywhere to send a cord to someone. Records for cards sent for Valentines Day 1841 show 400,000 within the English postal service – and this number increased constantly every year. The poor postmen were given an extra allowance ‘for refreshments, to help them keep up their energy’ while doing cupid’s work! 

This remarkable large piece of English Majolica is the ultimate pottery rarity. It’s a Punch punchbowl – the figure balancing it on his belly is the character so familiar to Victorians as the character of the ‘Punch’ satyrical magazine. The bowl itself is like a giant orange, and the moulded holly around the edge reveals the intended usage for the bowl: Yuletide Cheer, sitting in the middle of a lavish Christmas table.

It was created by George Jones, famous for his quirky products. It bears the diamond registration mark for 1873, as well as the ‘GJ’ impressed initials of the proprietor. This is interesting, as 1873 is also the year George Jones included his sons in the business, changing the mark to ‘GJ & Sons’. This bowl must have been made in the initial part of 1873, before the change of the mark was implemented. It’s rare we can date something so precisely…..