A Lucie Rie vase bought from the famed studio potter over tea and cake, could sell for up to £1,500 in a Nantwich auction.
The vase is one of many items due under the hammer at Peter Wilson auctioneers on Market Street.
It is on sale along with three letters addressed to the vendor, signed by Lucie Rie, and a two-page handwritten account on how the London meeting in 1983 went and purchase occurred.
The lady selling the vase said she attended one of the potter’s London exhibitions where she had been entranced by their simple beauty and their colours of “rainbow-petrol, earth and sand”.
She wrote: “Lucie Rie’s telephone was in the London directory. I dialled and yes, I could visit to choose a pot.
“When I visited it was to a tiny mews cottage with the sitting room upstairs and studio with big windows downstairs. Lucie Rie’s pots sat about like found seashells. Natural.”
The letters describe Lucie Rie as “a tiny, sparkling person” who invited her upstairs for tea and cake.
She returned later to collect her purchase, “a small hand held pot with a deep foot”, which cost £80.
Since then, the vase has been kept wrapped in a green scarf at the back of a wardrobe.
Lucie Rie (1902-1995) was born in Vienna, where she studied pottery and opened her first studio, exhibiting at the Paris International Exhibition in 1925.
She fled Nazi Austria in 1937 and settled in London, surviving by making and selling ceramic buttons and jewellery.
The pot will go on public view alongside 560 lots of fine art and antiques in the Nantwich auction on Sunday February 16 (2-4pm); Monday February 17 and Tuesday February 18 (10am-5pm); Wednesday February 19 (10am-4pm) and on the morning of the sale on February 20, which starts at 10am.
Contact the auctioneer on 01270 623878 or [email protected]
Recent Comments