Lucie Rie shaping a squared vase similar to the present work in her studio. Image: © Jane Coper/Estate of the artist Provenance
Phillips, London, "Contemporary Ceramics," September 25, 2001, lot 114
The Abercairn Collection
Phillips, London, "Design," April 25, 2013, lot 254
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
"Lucie Rie," Tate St Ives, St Ives, May 16-September 27, 2009
Literature
Emmanuel Cooper, Lucie Rie, exh. cat., Tate St Ives, St Ives, 2009, illustrated p. 15
Artist Biography
Lucie Rie
Austrian • 1902 - 1995
Dame Lucie Rie studied under Michael Powolny at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna before immigrating to London in 1938. In London she started out making buttons for the fashion industry before producing austere, sparsely decorated tableware that caught the attention of modernist interior decorators. Eventually she hit her stride with the pitch-perfect footed bowls and flared vases for which she is best-known today. She worked in porcelain and stoneware, applying glaze directly to the unfired body and firing only once. She limited decoration to incised lines, subtle spirals and golden manganese lips, allowing the beauty of her thin-walled vessels to shine through. In contrast with the rustic pots of English ceramicist Bernard Leach, who is considered an heir to the Arts and Crafts movement, collectors and scholars revere Rie for creating pottery that was in dialogue with the design and architecture of European Modernism.
44
Squared vase
circa 1966
Stoneware with manganese speckle, pitted and flowing white glaze.
9 3/4 in (24.8 cm) high, 5 7/8 in (15 cm) diameter
Underside impressed with artist's seal.
Estimate
$6,000 - 8,000
Sold for $17,780
Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist, Head of Sale, New York
bgreen@phillips.com
+1 212 940 1267
Moved by Beauty: Works by Lucie Rie from an Important Asian Collection
New York Auction 11 December 2024
