A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Soaring Bird


No bird soars too high, 
if he soars with his own wings.
--William Blake

The long awaited sale at Christie's of the Minton Peacock did not disappoint.

The final price of £109,250 ($171,413) brought by the peacock earlier today smashed the estimate of £70,000 making the bird one of the most expensive pieces of majolica ever sold.
Modeled by Minton Sculptor Paul Comolera in 1873 the piece is one of the only remaining examples of the bird known to exist. This example, dated to 1876, did undergo some minor restoration (which we wrote about http://etruscanmajolica.blogspot.com/2010/09/majolica-restoration-nightmare.html ).

This is one bird that truly soared!

It made the $17,651 price brought by the Minton shell jardiniere at the same auction look paltry by comparison!


All I have to say is, WOW!

No comments:

Post a Comment