Auction highlights from the weird and wonderful world of the Martin Brothers

Production began in 1873 with a kiln at the family home in Fulham and expanded in 1877 with a move to a disused soap works on the canal on Havelock Road in Southall, where sporadic production would continue until 1923.

Eldest brother Robert Wallace modelled the figures, Walter fired the kiln, mixed the glazes and threw the pots, Edwin was chiefly the decorator while youngest brother Charles ran the City shop – badly. Wildly eccentric, even by the standards of his siblings, he hated to part with any of the wares, hid the best of them under the floorboards, and turned away many a prospective customer.

Eventually, the shop burned down, the brothers lost their stock, and Charles his sanity.

There was a less-than-commercial approach to production. A single high-temperature kiln was fired just once a year without protective saggars which meant every pot was in direct contact with the flames.

The result was a very unpredictable output (on one occasion, only one good pot emerged from an entire year’s work) but the pieces that did emerge were often Victorian art pottery at its best – a vast range of beautifully formed and decorated domestic and decorative wares, sometimes whimsical, sometimes comical, sometimes dark.

Martinware has a surprisingly long and enduring collecting history and certainly still has many fans willing to pay good money for the best examples.

Cambridge saleroom Cheffins is offering a selection as part of its February 24 The Art & Design Sale. Here are five suggestions.

Grotesque andirons

Estimated at £35,000-45,000, these andirons (above) are modelled as grotesque amphibious creatures crouching on their hindlimbs and bound back to back by a blue band, glazed in shades of ochre and blue, each with incised marks to the decorative stepped plinth bases.

Each 24.5 x 26 x 14cm, they were acquired by the present owner from a private American collection.

The unrecorded lot is among the most unusual pieces of Martinware to have been offered on the open market. Probably completed as a private commission during the mid-1870s, these scarce and curious objects foreshadow the inception of the iconic ‘Wally Bird’ design and demonstrate an early foray into the grotesque. The quasi-human creatures crouching awkwardly and shackled together across the torso appear to satirise the human struggles of subjugation and exploitation.

Bid for the Martinware andirons on thesaleroom.com.

Toothy grimace

Martinware stoneware jug - estimate £20,000-30,000 at Cheffins on February 24.

This rare stoneware jug, c.1881, by Robert Wallace Martin for the Martin Brothers, is glazed in shades of ochre and brown and modelled as a grotesque bird-like creature with a fierce, toothy grimace, the spiny neck rising from an ovoid body and connecting to a loop handle, incised marks to underside.

The 21cm high item was acquired by the present owner from a private American collection. It is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Martinware stoneware jug on thesaleroom.com.

Bird brains

Martinware Wally Bird - estimate £10,000-15,000 at Cheffins on February 24.

Robert Wallace Martin’s most coveted creations are his Gothic-inspired creatures – particularly the anthropomorphic bird jars, glazed in the subdued palette of browns, greens, greys and blues so distinctive of Martinware. These characters from Victorian London (the earliest is dated 1880) were professional types, public figures and local waifs and strays modelled in avian form and have become iconic objects in the history of British decorative arts.

A 21cm high example at Cheffins estimated at £10,000-15,000 is modelled as a glowering Wally Bird bearing a gunshot wound to the torso, glazed in shades of ochre, blue and green, and with opalescent glazing to the talons and stomach, incised marks to the base and the internal rim of the cover.

View the catalogue entry for this Martinware Wally Bird.

Wrestle mania

Martinware dish - estimate £15,000-25,000 at Cheffins on February 24.

Two open-mouthed quasi-simian creatures arm-wrestle across this 37.5cm wide dish, glazed in shades of ochre and green, painted marks to the centre and incised marks to the underside.

Acquired by the present owner from a private American collection, it is estimated at £15,000-25,000.

Bid for the Martinware dish on thesaleroom.com.

Getting warmer

Martinware spoon warmer - estimate £8000-12,000 at Cheffins on February 24.

This strange beast is a stoneware spoon warmer, glazed in shades of green, blue and ochre, the ovoid body modelled as a grotesque creature with a gaping downturned mouth and a long, curling beard, the loop handle emanating from the top of the head, incised marks to underside.

The 14cm high item acquired by the present owner from a private American collection is estimated at £8000-12,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Martinware stoneware spoon warmer.