Gli Etruschi, Ivo De Santis Pair of Green/Ochre Horses, Italy, circa 1960

A Cobridge stoneware vase, decorated with a repeat pattern of sea horses and foliage. Rare trial piece dated 8.8.2000, Cobridge impressed stamp on the underside which is marked trial with the initials PAS & ML and the date 8.8.2000. Measures: Height 29.5cm Diameter max 13cm Diameter (base of vase) 10.3cm A Cobridge stoneware cylindrical Cathedral pattern vase, designed by Samantha Johnson, copyright 2000 Cobridge Stoneware was a short-lived pottery company born out of the fascination of the head of one of the leading potteries for a process that died with its inventor early in the twentieth century. Cobridge Stoneware was in business 1998–2005. It was an Associate company of Moorcroft Pottery. The consequence of the business closing in down 2005. Is that the vases are now becoming very rare and demanding premium prices on the secondary market. Hugh Edwards, owner of Moorcroft, was keen to develop the ideas of William Howson Taylor, the man behind the closely guarded secrets of Ruskin Pottery. A new company and name was needed for the new range, Moorcroft is known and recognized universally by its distinctive appearance. Cobridge, an area of The Potteries, was featured in the Industrial Landscapes that were planned to furnish some of the designs for the new range. Its skyline was dominated in earlier years by bottle kilns, now mainly demolished, and Cobridge was chosen as the new name. The Cobridge Pottery was set up in a new imposing building a couple of hundred yards from the Moorcroft pottery and the official opening was in September 1998. The building was designed with future needs in mind. Only the outer walls are load-bearing, and the inner walls are built from blocks which can, if the need arises, be knocked down and re-built in another place. All the pieces were produced and hand painted here. The designs for Cobridge Stoneware Pottery vases were designed by well known ceramic designers. Many were also designing for Moorcroft Pottery. These designers include Philip Gibson, Kerry Goodwin, Nicola Slaney and Angela Davenport. Also Anita Harris...

Italian Mid-Century Modern design ceramic vases set series “Gli Etruschi” designed by italian artist Ivo Sassi, 1950s Dimensions from left: Height 21 cm, width 20 cm, depth 20 cm...

Italian Mid-Century Modern design ceramic vases or bottles set serie “Gli Etruschi” designed by Italian artist Ivo Sassi, 1950s Dimensions from left: Height 22 cm, diameter 6.5 cm H...

1950s Mid-Century Modern Albisola Ceramic Vide-Poche by Ivos Pacetti A charming and rare piece of Italian mid-century design, this ceramic vide-poche (catchall tray) was crafted in A...

We hear that green is fashion! We've always loved it, especially the beautiful glaze by Mado Jolain, a great French ceramicist whose pots have been very successful with the Benoit Gu...

Enchanting and amusing pair of pleasingly rotund Barbotine vases, representing crabs forming a ring around woven baskets. The inspiration is taken from the French expression...

With covers and liners. Marked with under glaze blue shield mark.

Vase "Pumpkin" from Albisola, Italy, circa 1955. With artist signature.

An unusual black and white ceramic vase, hand-painted by Mancioli, Italy, circa 1960s.

Two pairs of maiolica baskets Antonio Ferretti Manufacture Lodi, circa 1770-1790 Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire). Measures: A) Height 3.54 x 6.69 x 9.84 in (9 x 17 x 25 cm); B) Height 3.93 x 7.48 x 11.02 in (10 x 19 x 28 cm). Total weight 4.85 lb (2.200 kg) State of conservation: A) One of the smaller baskets has some areas of restoration, the other slight chipping from use; B) One of the larger baskets is intact and the other shows a clearly glued break. The mold with which the baskets were forged simulates a wicker weave. The two larger works have high, vertical walls, with branch-shaped handles penetrating the weave. The painted decorations, small polychrome flowers applied only externally, highlight the points where the weaves intersect. The decision to leave the center of the basket devoid of decoration is highly unusual, but given the size and complexity of the shape, as well as the quality of the enamel, it is possible to hypothesize that it represents a precise choice in manufacturing or for a particular client. The two smaller baskets have small, twisted handles and, on the outside, reproduce more decisively the characteristic wicker weave, obtained through thin molded lines. The interior exhibits a rich, typical decoration of naturalistic flowers: a bunch centered around a main flower and secondary stems accompanied by small “semis”. The exterior of these works is also adorned with small little flowers where the weaves intersect. The size and morphological characteristics of the baskets confirm their attribution to the Lodi factory of Antonio Ferretti between 1770 and 1790, during its most successful period; by this point his original reworking of the "Strasbourg" decoration, known as "old Lodi", had achieved great fame even outside Italy. This decorative choice represented a strong point of the Lodi factory, which established itself thanks to the vivid nature of the colors made possible by the introduction of a new technique perfected by Paul Hannong in Strasbourg and which Antonio Ferretti introduced in Italy. This production process, called “piccolo fuoco” (third fire), allowed the use of a greater number of colors than in the past; in particular, the purple of Cassius, a red made from gold chloride, was introduced. Its use allowed for many more tones and shades, from pink to purple. The Ferretti family had started their maiolica manufacturing business in Lodi in 1725. The forefather Simpliciano had started the business by purchasing an ancient furnace in 1725 and, indeed, we have evidence of the full activity of the furnaces from April of the same year (Novasconi-Ferrari-Corvi, 1964, p. 26 n. 4). Simpliciano had started a production of excellence also thanks to the ownership of clay quarries in Stradella, not far from Pavia. The production was so successful that in 1726 a decree of the Turin Chamber came to prohibit the importation of foreign ceramics, especially from Lodi, to protect internal production (G. Lise, La ceramica a Lodi, Lodi 1981, p. 59). In its initial stages, the manufacture produced maolicas painted with the “a gran fuoco” (double fire) technique, often in turquoise monochrome, with ornamentation derived from compositional modules in vogue in Rouen in France. This was also thanks to the collaboration of painters like Giorgio Giacinto Rossetti, who placed his name on the best specimens next to the initials of the factory. In 1748 Simpliciano made his will (Gelmini, 1995, p. 30) appointing his son Giuseppe Antonio (known as Antonio) as universal heir. After 1750, when Simpliciano passed away, Antonio was directly involved in the maiolica factory, increasing its fortunes and achieving a reputation on a European level. Particularly important was the aforementioned introduction in 1760 of the innovative “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) processing, which, expanding the ornamental repertoire with Saxon-inspired floral themes, could commercially compete with the German porcelains that had one of its most renowned offerings in the naturalistic Deutsche Blumen. Antonio Ferretti understood and promoted this technique and this decoration, proposing it in a fresher and more corrective version, less linked to botanical tables...