The Art of Chinese Cloisonné

An impressive Chinese cloisonné vase (hu), Ming dynasty, height 20inches © Toovey’s 2020

The tradition of enriching metal objects by fusing a composition of ground up multi-coloured glass under heat stretches back over some 3000 years.

It is likely that the origins of these techniques came from the Near East. From the 13th to 12th centuries BC you find it in the Aegean within the cultural sphere of Cyprus. Enamel was employed in Celtic objects from the 5th to 2nd centuries BC and provincial Roman pieces in the first centuries of the Christian era. It reached its heights in Byzantium and European sacred art of the early and high Middle Ages.

The term cloisonné describes the method of creating compartments on a metal object using raised wirework borders, known as cloisons in French. These thin borders remain visible on the finished object separating the compartments of variously coloured enamels. The enamelled powder is worked into a paste to allow its application before being fired in a kiln.

It is likely that these techniques reached China from the Middle East in the 14th century though Byzantium also influenced these developments especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when refugees, in all likelihood, brought their knowledge of enamelling to China.

In China high quality enamelling becomes apparent during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Importantly this branch of artistic endeavour received the patronage of the Imperial Court in China where large pieces were produced.

The impressive Chinese cloisonné vase or hu illustrated dates from the mid-Ming dynasty. The body is decorated in a subtly graded colour palette where two pairs of auspicious, lapis blue dragons frame stylized flaming pearls above the Mountains of Longevity and the Sea of Bliss (shoushan fuhai – live as long as the mountains and may your happiness be as immense as the sea). The chased pair of gilt metal mask and loose ring handles are thought to be of later date.

A Chinese cloisonné bottle vase decorated with a lily pond, Qianlong period, height 8inches © Toovey’s 2020

In the 18th century the emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) surrounded himself with resplendent enamel works in his summer residence which he remodelled in the European Rococo taste guided by Italian and French Jesuit missionaries.

The Qianlong period Chinese cloisonné turquoise ground bottle vase of ovoid form is decorated with a lotus pond whilst the narrow neck has lotus flowerheads and scrolling tendrils above a stiff leaf band. Once again a dragon is depicted, this time cast in gilt metal. Thanks to its symbolic qualities of potent and auspicious powers the dragon is an emblem often associated with the Emperor in China. The turquoise ground is typical of much Chinese cloisonné. Pieces like this embody the search for perfection and originality in an increasingly industrial age.

These two fine examples of the art of Chinese cloisonné were sold for £19,000 and £4,600 at Toovey’s specialist sales of Chinese and Asian Art reflecting its continuing allure to collectors today.

Turner’s Modern World

‘The Fighting Téméraire Tugged to her last Berth to be broken up’, 1839 © The National Gallery London

Tate Britain’s current exhibition Turner’s Modern Britain could not be more timely as our nation once again turns its attention to our industrial heartlands and begins to re-imagine and re-ignite our inventiveness and manufacturing base.

JMW Turner (1775-1851) had strong associations with Sussex through his patron and friend the 3rd Earl of Egremont at Petworth. Turner witnessed an extraordinary period of change during his lifetime: Britain’s industrial revolution and the advent of steam power, social reform, the Napoleonic Wars and French political revolution, the Great Reform Act of 1832, and the abolition of slavery.

This ambitious exhibition seeks to place Turner’s art in the context of his times. It takes a holistic view of the influences of Turner’s broad interests on his work.

The Georgian Britain that Turner grew up in was unrecognisable when compared to the economic powerhouse this country had become by 1851. This period of startling and rapid change has resonances for our own times.

This processional show begins with Turner’s early work as a topographical watercolourist and charts his remarkable development as he found and embraced a new vocabulary to describe his modern age. It was a vocabulary which many of his contemporaries found shocking. The exhibition also highlights Turner’s evolving views towards war, peace, political reform, societal injustice and slavery. Turner celebrated the modern but did not shy away from depicting human tragedy and suffering with an increasing and enduring commitment to reform.

Turner was the first to depict rail and steamboats in significant works which startled his contemporaries. The speed of change must have seemed giddying. Today they provide remarkable evocations of not just the scenes but of the experience of encountering revolution, science, invention and steam.

Two paintings in the exhibition more than any, for me, encapsulate the procession of Turner’s life and his modern age.

‘The Fighting Téméraire’ painted in 1836 provides a muted melancholic scene. Beneath the setting sun and the early risen moon a distinguished old warship, one of the last survivors of the Battle of Trafalgar, is towed away by a steam tug representing the modern age which has made her redundant. The sky, half molten and half glassy green remains, one of the extraordinary achievements in Western art.

JMW Turner, ‘Rain Steam and Speed’, 1844 © The National Gallery London

‘Rain Steam and Speed’ provides an impression of the new age of steam engines and travel. The train appears elemental, at one with the wind and rain as it moves at speed towards us. It captures not only a visual impression but also the experience of this relatively new invention. Nature, science and industry appear united by a modern age in this painting.

Tate Britain, Covid-19 willing, will reopen today. To book tickets for this exceptional and timely show, and to find out more visit tate.org.uk. The exhibition runs until the 7th March 2021.

Pots and Apothecaries

Part of an assemblage of tin glazed delftware and maiolica from the collection of the late Professor Maurice Stacey CBE FRS which realized in excess of £20,000 at Toovey’s.

This week I am in the company of Toovey’s ceramic specialist Joanne Hardy who has just overseen the sale of a remarkable collection of tin glazed pottery which has realised more than £20,000.

Jo explains that the collection is part of that assembled by the late Professor Maurice Stacey CBE FRS who was a chemist at the University of Birmingham. She says “Stacey received many awards for his work which included the first synthesis of vitamin C and the separation of uranium isotopes for the World War II atomic bomb project. Professor F.H. Garner, also of the University of Birmingham, and a great collector of tin-glazed pottery, helped Stacey put the collection together. Professor Garner’s books on tin glazed delftware are still widely respected today, so his influence on Professor Stacey’s collection is important.”

Reflecting on the dramatic effects of Coronavirus in our own times Jo remarks “There is a race to find a viable vaccine that could potentially release us all from lockdown and give us back our freedom. In the absence of that vaccine we are relying on the medical care we currently have access to and put our faith in. It has been that way since records began with medicine being an important part of our lives.”

“Today we are used to blister packs of pills and glass bottles of medicine, but before these innovations, apothecaries – the modern day pharmacist – stored their supplies primarily in pottery receptacles. These were ideal for the storage of dry herbs or liquid remedies as they could be made in any size required, sealed with something like wax and labelled accordingly.

During the Renaissance period the role of the apothecary increased greatly as important innovations and discoveries were made in the fields of biology and human anatomy. An increased number of jars for the storage of drugs and remedies were required. An apothecary in charge of a large pharmacy attached to a monastery or palace could reasonably have around one thousand plus different drug-jars.”

“The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in particular saw these jars take on a decorative side as well as a practical one. Pharmacies would have a particular armorial or motif that was applied to all jars supplied to them, and areas of production would use a particular style, glaze or colouring. Much research has been done into the many different types of drug-jars which survive to this day, and we can now with reasonable certainty attribute styles, shapes and decoration to particular areas of Europe or even specific potteries or decorators.”

There were a number of maiolica drug-jars in Professor Stacey’s collection. Jo was able to attribute the vessels illustrated to Sicily, Calabria, Deruta, Venice, Faenza and Savona.

Jo concludes “A number of the drug-jars in the collection, or albarellos to give them their Italian name, had inscribed labels denoting specific drugs or remedies. We can only imagine the ailments and the people they may have potentially been used on 400 years ago.”

Excitement of Online Auctions in New Lockdown

William Rowsell conducting a specialist sale of Furniture and Works of Art before an audience of online, commission and telephone bidders in Toovey’s Boardroom

Gosh what a difference a couple of weeks can make! As I write this we are all coming to terms with a new period of national lockdown. At Toovey’s we have been able to move our winter series of specialist auctions online with click and collect. In recent weeks we have gathered the collecting community online through tooveys.com.

Over many years Toovey’s have invested heavily in their website and online marketing. During the Covid-19 outbreak we have seen members of the public, who would never have embraced the technology, migrating online.

I have always loved the sense of anticipation, excitement and energy of an auction day and a room full of bidders. But our most recent specialist auctions during lockdown also gave cause for much excitement and a glimpse of an evolving new normal.

The salerooms were beautifully laid out with an abundant array of furniture, books, toys and objects for people to view safely by appointment. But as the lockdown took effect the salerooms took on a stillness without the usual crowd of auction goers.

We set the rostrum at Toovey’s boardroom table as the world joined in the bidding action online, with competition from telephone and absentee commission bidders. Despite the sudden change the sales all quickly took on the energy and excitement of a traditional auction day as William’s gavel rose and fell and prices exceeded pre-sale expectations.

I think that many of us felt a little covid-fatigued after the Prime Minister’s announcements of a new national lockdown. But these auctions seemed to give expression to the indefatigable, hopeful spirit of the British in the face of challenge as we sought to support the government, protect our community and press on safely. And prices remained higher than before lockdown. Clients continue to sign up for auction updates and catalogues which are constantly changing at tooveys.com with fantastic illustrations and condition reports for virtual viewing.

‘Click and Collect’ at Toovey’s

People complimented us on our new ‘click and collect’ service for items purchased at the auctions. I couldn’t help but smile when I overheard one client saying “Toovey’s must be the poshest click and collect venue in the county!”

Until lockdown is lifted we can no longer welcome people at the salerooms except for ‘click and collect’. But people have been delighted to discover that they can email images for online valuations or book a home visit. I am still visiting people in their homes in line with government guidance, providing valuations and advice for auction, probate and insurance.

Online is an incredible blessing in these times but real life human encounters are still vital. I hope that the ‘R’ number willing I will soon be able to welcome you once again here at the salerooms. Until then I look forward to seeing you online and at your homes.

Our Island Nation United by a Common Story

The Revd. Canon Kathryn Windslow, Rector of Storrington, leading a Service of Remembrance accompanied by the Royal British Legion, Storrington Branch, and Royal Navy Association standard bearers, Des Knight and Richard Shenton.

Last Sunday and this week we once again reflect upon the costs of defending righteousness, freedom and liberty, giving thanks not only for our allies but also for reconciliation and peace.

The poignant image of Her Majesty The Queen laying a wreath based on her wedding bouquet at the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, accompanied by only a handful of people, brought home the loss and separation experienced by families through war.

The Remembrance Sunday service next to the Cenotaph in Whitehall echoed this.

Outside churches across Britain, Europe and America the common story and Christian heritage which unites us was expressed in services of Remembrance and thanksgiving. Beside War Memorials across Britain these familiar bidding words were heard:

“We have come to remember before God those who have died for their country in the two world wars and the many conflicts of the years that have followed. Some we knew and loved: we treasure their memory still. Others are unknown to us: to their remembrance too, we give our time…With thanksgiving we recall services offered and sacrifices made…”

In Storrington Remembrance Sunday has become the largest Civic service of the year uniting our community across the generations. The streets are usually filled with the standards of the Royal British Legion, the Air Training Corps, the Royal Navy Association and the youth organisations as they march to St Mary’s Parish Church for a service of thanksgiving and remembrance. There is a beauty to this shared expression of love united by the common story of our island history. But this year there was a peculiar stillness as we gathered in small numbers around our village war memorial outside the church. And yet we still gathered, united in our common purpose. In the stillness the birds sang, their anthem rose as though in praise as we stood in silence.

Families, communities and nations are bound together by their shared stories; stories of both joys and sorrows. Where these memories are embraced with open hearts they seed compassion, hope, empathy and a desire to work for the common good – something which our armed forces know intuitively. And our nation is once again united by the evolving story, the shared experience of Covid-19 and lockdown.

I hope that in this week of remembrance each of us will be able to find time this week to reflect, offering thanks and prayers for the courage of successive generations who have been called, and continue to be called, to defend the greater cause of justice and concord. A service of Remembrance will be led by The Royal British Legion in Storrington High Street this Wednesday 11th November at 11.00 o’clock.