Flower power at auction: what to buy and where to find it
16 March 2023 Spring is here and even if it’s still looking a bit gloomy (or even snowy) where you are, it’s not too early to brighten up your home with some floral themed lots.
Estimated at £120-180 is this small Della Robbia pottery bowl by Tom Hall painted with radiating flower stems in red and green. It is included in Woolley & Wallis’ sale of Clarice Cliff, Art Deco and Design on March 22-23.
This large slipware calligraphic jug is decorated with flowers and butterflies. It is inscribed with a verse: Despise Me Not Because I Am Small. Fill Me Often And I Will Please You All. It was made by Bennett Cooper (1953-2002) and is offered in the Adam Partridge studio ceramics sale in Macclesfield on March 24. It has an estimate of £80-120.
Percy Kelly (1918-93) was a prolific but apparently difficult artist who struggled to part with his works. However he was also a keen correspondent with Joan David, writing a huge volume of letters to her, that were illustrated in bright colours down to their envelopes. In the huge Mitchell’s sale of March 22-24, The Joan David collection goes under the hammer, with a number of Kelly’s letters on offer. In this example of Kelly's illustrated letters, he writes to her of a day marked by bad weather, but illustrated with a cheery vase of flowers. It has an estimate of £500-800.
Offered at Plymouth Auction Rooms on March 22 is this William Moorcroft Macintyre vase, decorated with orange and blue flowers, c.1903, in the violet design. It has an estimate of £200-300.
Another lot from the Mitchells sale is this large oil on canvas still-life, which is offered framed, signed and with a Roy Miles Gallery Bruton Street London label verso. It has an estimate of £100-150.
This early 20th century Burmantofts faience jardiniere and stand is moulded with panels of flowers painted in brown and green. Hartleys of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, offers it on its March 22 sale with an estimate of £120-160.
