world of antiques & art 79

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AUGUST 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011 ISSUE 79 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00 US $13.00 10.50 a biannual magazine for collectors of material culture Ancient crafts: new discoveries / fresh applications A recently uncovered ancient Roman mosaic floor on show in New York Tiffany’s mosaic glass screen a national heritage in Mexico From decorating jars to jewellery designs: Enamelling is taken to new heights in the UK Fostering the arts: New titles reviewed Celebrating Australian art Vida Lahey, one of Queensland’s best-loved artists State of the market: From Australia to London collecting trends are strong Review of a major Sydney auction New look for London fairs

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Page 1: World of Antiques & Art 79

AUGUST 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011 ISSUE 79AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00

US $13.00 €10.50

a biannual magazine for col lectors of mater ia l cul ture

Ancient crafts: new discoveries /fresh applications

A recently uncovered ancientRoman mosaic floor on show

in New York

Tiffany’s mosaic glass screen a national heritage in Mexico

From decorating jars to jewellery designs: Enamelling is taken to

new heights in the UK

Fostering the arts:New titles reviewed

Celebrating Australian art Vida Lahey, one of Queensland’s

best-loved artists

State of the market:From Australia to London collecting trends are strong

Review of a major Sydney auction

New look for London fairs

Page 2: World of Antiques & Art 79

142 AROUND THE AUCTIONS

Auction highlights from the major houses

ART

64 Acquisition: Noel Counihan (1913-1968)

Alexandra Walton

68 Marc Rambeau: The confluence of eastern and western art practices

in landscapes

Helen Musa

104 Frederick Cayley Robinson (1862-1927):

Paintings for Middlesex Hospital

Sarah Herring

116 Vida Lahey (1882-1968): Exceptional flower studies

Glenn R Cooke

124 Salvatore Rosa (1615-1673): His bandits, wilderness and magic on

show in London

Xavier F Salomon

ART NEWS

52 London fairs in June

Tony Keniston

78 Brian Kennedy moves to the Toledo Museum of Art

Helen Musa

92 Bonhams sale of the Owston Collection

Peter Fish

159 CONTRIBUTORS

DECORATIVE ART AND DESIGN

22 Commemorating the invention of European hard paste porcelain

Theresa Witting

28 Collecting Japanese Satsuma ware

Christopher Proudlove

36 Acquisition: Germanic book case circa 1890s

Glenn R Cooke

46 The Roman mosaic from Lod, Israel

Christopher S Lightfoot

56 Acquisition: Teraike Toshu (1907-1980)

Daniel McOwan

58 Cultural arts and the Solomon Islands

Crispin Howarth

80 A meaningful survey of German goldsmithing masterpieces

Ulrich Becker

100 The consummate craftsmanship of Fred Rich

Amanda Stucklin

108 The Ballet Russes and a revolution in theatre design

Jane Pritchard

112 Tiffany’s monumental mosaic fire screen

Margaret D McNiven

134 Exploring the rich tapestry of Tibetan furniture

Stephen Markel

138 The long tradition and fame of Chinese ceramics

Laurie Barnes

4 EDITORIAL

HERITAGE

74 The Anthony Shaw Collection

John Christian

86 Horace Walpole’s Gothic castle on the Thames

Judith Viscardi

LIBRIS

128 Colin Holden, The Outsider: Portrait of Ursula Hoff

Reviewed by Alison Inglis

129 Dorothy Erickson, Gold & Silversmithing in Western Australia

Reviewed by Glenn R Cooke

131 Martin Kemp and Pascal Cotte, Leonardo da Vinci: ‘La Bella

Principessa’, The Profile Portrait of a Milanese Woman

Reviewed by Hugh Hudson

PHOTOGRAPHY

10 Anton Bruehl and the Fabric Group

Belinda Hungerford

23 Valerie Spark: El Dorado Springs

Gael Newton

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

2

Contents

COVERValerie Sparks (Australian 1961-), El Dorado Springs,2007, mural size digital montage inkjet photograph,pigment inks on archival paper, 100 x 600 cm, ed 4/5.National Gallery of Australia Canberra

Page 3: World of Antiques & Art 79

BELINDA HUNGERFORD

In the 1920s there was no place more

modern and glamorous than New York

and towards the end of the decade

there were three debonair young men

who were causing a sensation. Each

week in The New Yorker their exploits

were splashed across the page and the

public eagerly awaited the next exposé.

But there is a twist in this tale. The

dapper trio were cut-out dolls, joined at

the trouser cuffs and elbows, and were

advertising Fabric Group suits from

Manhattan men’s haberdashers Weber

and Heilbroner.

Australian-born American

photographer Anton Bruehl (1900–1982)

was responsible for the award-winning

long-running series that captivated The

New Yorker readership.

The growing acceptance of

photography in advertising from the

1920s onwards led to enormous

creativity in the medium with ‘new

camera art techniques’1 employed to

individualise campaigns. Advertisers

were willing to use photographic

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

10

photography

Cut from a new cloth: Anton Bruehl and the Fabric Group

Dramatic lighting and bird’s-

eye perspective were used

to striking effect in the

advertising campaign Anton

Bruehl created for the

American Fabric Group

label. Elements that were

extremely modern and

tapped into the new

imagination emerging in

commercial photography

1

Page 4: World of Antiques & Art 79

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

28

CHRISTOPHER PROUDLOVE

As someone who used to think

antiques were only ever seen in

fusty museums, it should come as no

surprise that as far as I was concerned,

Satsumas were the brand of fresh

oranges you bought at the greengrocers.

Then I became hooked on salerooms,

flea markets, car boot sales and

acquiring more junk than the house

could comfortably accommodate.

It didn’t take long before I learned

about the other type of Satsuma: the

Japanese earthenware pottery, so called

because that’s where it was made.

However, not all Satsuma is of fine

quality. Gaudy gilt elephants, dragons,

Buddhas and strongmen—crudely

modelled and carelessly painted—are not

to everyone’s liking. Huge quantities of it

were (and still are) produced for export to

the west, resulting in standards that leave

much to be desired.

But forsake the later mass-produced

bottom of the market items and instead,

sift out pieces by masters such as Chin

Jukan, Hayata Takemoto and their

followers, whose work is pure joy to

behold. Consider the objects illustrated

here. Each a superb example of the

quality, imagination and technical

decorative arts & design

1 Japan (Meiji period 1868-1912), Satsumavases made by Nakamura Baikei, late 19thcentury, each with elephant-head handles,decorated in typical colours and gilt. Aninscription by the potter reads: ‘I made thisvase with all my soul and technique; youshould admire it as fine art.’ Value: £6,000-8,000

Images courtesy Sotheby’s London

Collecting

Japanese Satsuma ware

1

Satsuma ware originated

in southern Japan in the

late sixteenth century. It

varies widely in quality,

from mass-produced

items of little value, to

fine items by master

potters which are highly

collectable. There are still

plenty of pieces available

on the market. Identifying

the best pieces requires

a good eye and an

intimate knowledge of

the subject

Page 5: World of Antiques & Art 79

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

36

This red painted bookcase is the

most significant example of

furniture made in the late nineteenth

century for Queensland’s migrant German

community that has been discovered. It

has the distinctive red-oxide casein paint

finish found on similar furniture originating

from German settlements in South

Australia’s Barossa Valley.

A cedar wardrobe in the collection of the

Art Gallery of South Australia, attributed to

the Schaedel workshop in the Barossa

Valley, similarly exhibits the shaped recess

panels to the doors. This appears to be a

distinctive German style and suggests a

common regional inspiration for both

pieces from the Brandenberg, Posen, or

Selisia areas. British researchers have been

in the forefront of identifying their distinctive

regional styles but there does not seem to

be equivalent research in Germany as yet.

German-inspired furniture from

Queensland is rare and this bookcase,

sourced to the Lockyer Valley, is the

largest in scale and the most striking

identified to date. The commonest form

of case furniture in the nineteenth

century is the wardrobe or schrank and

two wardrobes with similar features—

most likely by the same hand—have

been noted. One, a black stained

wardrobe also in the possession of the

donors, has curved frames to the door

similar to the bookcase and similar

pyramidal bosses. Another wardrobe,

which was identical in all details even to

the finials, had its significance destroyed

when it was stripped and the door

panels replaced with glass to make a

display cabinet.

The settlement by German migrants in

South Australia’s Barossa Valley is well

known and the focus of the 1995

publication by Noris Ioannou, The

Barossa folk: Germanic furniture and

craft traditions in Australia. These migrant

communities maintained their cultural

coherence through their work in the wine

industry. As Ioannou observes: ‘… the

physical isolation and cultural continuity of

the Barossa Valley, the manner of its

founding, as well as the place of origin of

its German communities, were key factors

in underpinning the preservation of

homeland furniture practices

and styles.’1

The key period in South Australia

began with settlement in the 1840s and

extended through to World War I. What

is less well known is that, during the

nineteenth century, Queensland was the

preferred destination for German

migrants. Between 1860 and 1880,

some 17,000 settled here so that by

1881 Queensland had the largest group

of German-born migrants in the

Australian colonies.2 These migrants, largely

acquisition

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY

Unknown Queensland

cabinetmaker Germanic bookcase, c. 1890s

1 Unknown Queensland cabinetmaker,Germanic bookcase c. 1890s, varioustimbers with turning and red-oxide caseinpaint finish, 220 x 127 x 50 cm. Origin:Lowood area, Brisbane Valley. Gift ofCharmian and Patrick Peppin through theQueensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010.Donated through the AustralianGovernment’s Cultural Gifts Program

Page 6: World of Antiques & Art 79

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

The World of Antiques & Art is the

resource for collectors. Published for

45 years, articles from across the

globe are written by expert curators,

scholars and journalists.

This Australian-based bi-annual

journal challenges the traditional

approach to collecting, from covering

ephemera and the decorative arts to

fine art. Explore the myriad of

collecting options including textiles,

photography, philately, numismatics,

jewellery, porcelain, silver or furniture

– to name some key areas.

World of Antiques & Art has it

covered, from heritage to culture

to investment.

what is showing internationally?Understanding the thrust of a show, what works arebeing hung, recent discoveries, interesting insights

More to read • Book reviews • Auction results • Exhibitions

World of antiques & art online

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Page 7: World of Antiques & Art 79

W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

visual arts Fresh perspectives: celebrated,elevated, valued and collected

South East Asia Pacific Arts / Middle EastExpanding our knowledge andunderstanding art and artefacts

masterworks in contextExploring traditional crafts andcontemporary practitioners

acquisitionsFrom art to objects, publicinstitutions present some of theirrecently acquired works

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W O R L D O F A N T I Q U E S & A R T

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