Chelsea figure of a Chinese woman, a red anchor period piece of c.1754-5, estimate Aus$5000-8000 at Artvisory.
Bob or Bobby Burke, a pharmacist working in the Tamworth, New South Wales, region who died in March 2022, spent years assembling his collection.
He bought from such major dealers in the field as Robert and Judy Jones, Anne George (and later Mark Law) of Albert Amor and Robyn Robb and until 1988 took an annual trip to the UK and other places in Europe to pursue his collecting interests.
A member of both the American and English Ceramic Circles, he had a particular interest in first period Worcester and Chelsea porcelain and pieces painted in the Giles atelier in London and these make up the bulk and mainstay of the collection.
However, Derby and Bow pieces are also included as are some Continental wares from maker such as Sèvres, Meissen and Hochst.
The collection on offer at Artvisory is rich in good pieces of Chelsea, both figures and tablewares. One of the rarities is this previously unrecorded 8½in (21.5cm) high figure of a Chinese woman, a red anchor period piece of c.1754-5 acquired in 2015 from dealer Albert Amor (pictured top).
Although unrecorded, the figure is very similar to a small group of red anchor pieces modelled in the Chinese style by Joseph Willems including two models of a trio of Chinese musicians attended by a boy one of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and one pictured by Yvonne Hackenbroch in The Irwin Untermeyer Collection. Florets painted on the outer garment of one of the Untermeyer musicians are very similar to those in this model.
Estimate Aus$5000-8000.
A Chelsea ‘fable’ serving dish of c.1752 painted by Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale, estimated at Aus20,000-30,000 at Artvisory.
The ‘fable’ tablewares from the early 1750s painted by Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale with designs based on engravings from Aesop’s Fables are a distinctive and much collected sub-group of early Chelsea. This large 15in (38.5cm) wide silver shaped serving dish of c.1752 is decorated with the story of The Lamb brought up by the Goat and was acquired from Albert Amor in 2020.
It carries an estimate of Aus20,000-30,000 in the Artvisory auction.
A pair of Worcester hexagonal blue scale covered vases with decoration known as the Lady Mary Montagu pattern featuring exotic birds and flowers that is attributed to the Giles atelier, esitmated at Aus$20,000-30,000 at Artvisory.
Bob Burke was particularly interested in the pieces decorated by the London based workshop of James Giles. Among his purchases was this pair of Worcester hexagonal blue scale covered vases with decoration known as the Lady Mary Montagu pattern featuring exotic birds and flowers that is attributed to the Giles atelier.
They stand 15¼in (39cm) high, are dated to c.1765-70 and were acquired from the London porcelain dealer Robyn Robb. The vases appear to be the only vases of this type in this pattern and Robyn Robb suggested that they are the same vases listed by James Christie in the catalogue of the 1774 sale of Giles’ stock as ‘a pair of hexagonal jars mazareen blue ground richly ornamented with burnished and chased gold and painted with birds’.
Estimate at Artvisory is Aus$20,000-30,000.
