Professional thieves broke into the house at approximately 2.50am on Thursday, March 22. They entered through a window located behind the 9ft (2.74m) three-tier Martinware fountain - one of the PM Gallery's best-known exhibits - that allowed them to gain access to the Martinware room. The alarm log shows the thieves were in and out of the Martinware room within six minutes, making off with 24 items with an estimated value of £240,000.
A full inventory of the stolen items is available. It includes nine of the studio's well-known bird jars (including a rare double bird group dated 6-1902), four face jugs and a number of small white clay sculptures including an imp musician, a bust, a full-length model of Samuel Pickwick and a chess piece modeled as a queen sitting on a throne. The upper tier of the Martinware fountain, that happens to be a replica, was also stolen.
"Pitzhanger Manor-House has an extensive alarm system but it is clear that the thieves knew exactly what they were looking for," said Peter Lipman, director of cultural services at Ealing. "Because of the importance of this collection [courtesy of the 1986 Hull Grundy bequest, Ealing Borough Council owns the largest public collection of Martinware numbering 342 pieces] the Martinware room is now temporarily closed and the remaining pottery is being stored off-site and will not be shown until the room is made secure. Because the house [former west London home of the architect John Soane] is a listed building, this may take some time."
Rising prices and awareness of Martinware has made it more appealing to professional thieves. Ealing Council lost 16 pieces of Martin Brothers pottery from Southall Library in May 2005 when professional thieves broke through a double-glazed window. Among the pieces stolen in that raid were three bird jars, a grotesque spoon warmer in the form of a dragon and three face jugs. They have not been recovered.
Anyone with any information on the theft, please contact Ealing Borough Police on 020 8810 1212 quoting Crime Reference number 2509314/07.
