The following eleven works by Lucie Rie and Hans Coper form part of the collection of the American journalist Claire Frankel. Residing with her husband the English editor William Frankel between London and Washington, D.C., where she worked as a freelance journalist, Frankel began collecting these works in the early 1980s. While writing for publications including The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Financial Times, Art & Auction, and Art & Antiques, Frankel devoted several articles during the late 1980s and early 1990s to contemporary British ceramics, examining the growing interest and market for these works. Documenting current museum and gallery exhibitions in addition to the different philosophies of London’s commercial galleries and auction houses, Frankel stated in a 1993 article for The Financial Times, “It is indisputable that ceramics is an art medium no longer to be disparaged as ‘crafts’.”

In The International Herald Tribune, Frankel wrote, “Lucie Rie, perhaps Britain’s greatest living potter, gently watches the burgeoning ceramic scene. At 88, she has a delicate frame, elfin grace and soft voice that provide a perfect, improbable counterpoint for her lively and sometimes steely intelligence and stunning output.” Although by the late 1960s Rie’s production primarily comprised individual works, Frankel acknowledged her straightforward commitment to making pottery that was intended for everyday use, describing Rie as an “unsentimental professional.” In an earlier article for Art & Auction, Frankel also noted the importance of Rie’s relationship with Hans Coper in reestablishing her career after immigrating to London in 1938, writing “It took her renowned pupil, the German-born Hans Coper, to convince Rie that her original work⎼her slender, graceful, paper-like forms⎼were distinctive and magnificent. He and Rie worked together, exhibited together and encouraged each other.” Their friendship is reflected in the present collection, which among Rie’s distinctive forms features Coper’s Ovoid pot with disc.