A Martin Brothers Stoneware ‘Wally Bird’ Jar and Cover, made by Robert Wallace Martin in 1906, will lead Tennants Auctioneers’ 20th Century Design Sale on 15th October, when it is offered for sale with an estimate of £15,000-20,000 (plus buyer’s premium).
Martin Brothers is one of the most significant names in the history of Victorian art pottery. Four brothers, working in London, conjured up idiosyncratic, whimsical creations that would represent the peak of Victorian art pottery and the beginning of 20th century Studio Pottery. For collectors, their wares, which teeter between comical and dark, remain amongst the most sought-after pots two centuries on. However, it is their iconic ‘Wally Birds’ for which they are best remembered. Stoneware tobacco jars and covers by Robert Wallace Martin in the form of anthropomorphic birds, standing erect and full of character with sly expressions or mischievous grins. Often the birds represented figures from Victorian society, from barristers and admirals to urchins off the street. It is these birds that remain the most desirable pieces of Martinware on the market today, with the most characterful figures commanding the highest prices.
Further pieces of Martinware up for sale include a Stoneware Vase by Edwin and Walter Martin incised with opium poppy seedheads (estimate: £800-1,200), a large Stoneware Aquatic Vase decorated with grotesque fish (estimate: £700-1,00), and a smaller Stoneware Aquatic Vase decorated with jellyfish (estimate: £400-600).
Another strong offering of Mouseman furniture and furnishings, amounting to over one hundred lots, includes fine, sought-after pieces made during the lifetime of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson. Highlights include a Panelled Double Wardrobe (estimate: £5,000-7,000), a circa 1930s/40s Panelled Dressing Chest and Mirror (estimate: £4,000-6,000), and a family collection of highly collectable small pieces with deep patination all made by Mouseman craftsman George Cave (1893-1969), to whom the vendor was related. Notable lots in the collection, which dates from the 1930s, include a Mantle Clock (estimate: £2,000-3,000), a Pair of Candlesticks (estimate: £1,000-1,500), a Bowl (£700-1,000), and a Double Pin Tray (£300-500). From other vendors come a Mouseman Carved Oak Pheasant (estimate: £3,000-4,000), a Stan ‘Woodpecker’ Dodds Carved Oak Owl, with provenance from the carver’s estate (estimate: £2,000-3,000), and a John ‘Grasshopperman’ Minikin Carved Oak Owl made for Trevor ‘Squirrelman’ Hutchinson (estimate: £2,000-3,000). Arts and Craft furniture from the Lake District is represented by two lots by Stanley Webb Davis of Windermere; a Chestnut Mirror is offered with an estimate of £200-300, and a Chestnut Hanging Corner Cupboard is offered with an estimate of £300-500.
Of academic interest is a cast lead figure of ‘Mischief’ (estimate: £200-300) by Phoebe Stabler (1879-1955), an artist under appreciated in her own time as today. Stabler grew up in Liverpool, but in 1912 set up a studio in Hammersmith with her husband Harold Stabler. She made beautifully modelled and glazed pottery figures, which were produced by Royal Worcester, Royal Doulton, Poole Pottery and Ashtead Potters, as well as being an accomplished stone carver. Also on offer in the sale, and from the same vendor, is a painting by Herbert Davis Richter (1874-1955) depicting ‘Buster Boy’, one of Stabler’s most well-known ceramic figures, which is offered with an estimate of £250-350. Richter was a furniture designer turned architect turned painter, who frequently depicted Phoebe Stabler’s figurines in his paintings of light-filled interiors. Little is known about the link between the pair, but Richter’s inclusion of so many of Stabler’s pieces in his work suggests an intriguing connection.
Finally, a collection of interesting lots of Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian, which have descended through the family of Pilkington’s designer John Tabbron (1908-1993) is also of note. Tabbron worked at Pilkington’s in the Design department from 1923 to 1941 under Mr John Chambers and Mr T B Jones. Interesting pieces up for sale include a small archive of tile designs, fireplace designs and photographs and ephemera (estimate: £200-300), and a selection of vases, sample pieces and models.
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