Hans Coper - The Art of Fire: Selections from the Dr John P. Driscoll Collection London Wednesday, November 10, 2021 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Coper family collection
    Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 'Contemporary Ceramics', 21 April 1994, lot 370

  • Artist Biography

    Hans Coper

    German • 1920 - 1981

    Hans Coper learned his craft in the London studio of Lucie Rie, having emigrated from Germany as a young Jewish engineering student in 1939. He initially assisted Rie in the studio with the ceramic buttons she made for the fashion industry, as well as ceramic tableware, but soon Coper was producing his own work. By 1951 he had received considerable recognition exhibiting his pots in the "Festival of Britain." 

     

    Coper favored compound shapes that, while simple in appearance, were in fact complex in construction. Similar to the making of Joseon Dynasty Moon Jars (Rie in fact displayed a Moon Jar in the studio), he would build his vessels by bringing several thrown forms together, for example joining bowls rim to rim. Coper eschewed glazes and preferred the textured surfaces achieved through the application of white and black slips, evoking the abraded texture of excavated vessels. This interest in ancient objects was very much in step with other modernists of his time—Coper admired Constantin Brancusi and Alberto Giacometti and his textured markings have been compared to sculptors such as William Turnbull.

     

    In the last phase of his career, Coper reduced the scale of his work creating small "Cycladic" pots that stood on pedestals or drums, recalling the clay figures of Bronze Age Greece. 

    View More Works

71

'Poppy Head' pot

circa 1957
Stoneware, layered porcelain slips with manganese design around the lip and interior.
20.8 cm (8 1/4 in.) high, 14 cm (5 1/2 in.) diameter
Impressed with artist's seal.

Estimate
£6,000 - 9,000 ‡♠

Sold for £151,200

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Ben Williams
Ceramics Consultant
BWilliams@phillips.com

Marijke Varrall-Jones
Director, Maak
marijke@maaklondon.com

The Art of Fire: Selections from the Dr John P. Driscoll Collection

London Auction in association with Maak