Porcelain bowl with manganese glaze and sgraffito lines, Lucie Rie, London, ca.1960-65

Shallow porcelain bowl of flaring form. Decorated with a manganese glaze through which radiating sgraffito lines have been drawn, on both inner and outer surfaces.

Bequeathed by Simon Cooper in memory of Ruth Wertheimer

According to his executor, John Gray, "Simon Cooper inherited this Lucie Rie Bowl from his godmother RUTH WERTHEIMER who died in the mid 1990's. She was a college friend of his mother. She was a former HMI in Education. Simon was a Lecturer in Central School of Speech and Drama for 26 years before he retired early through ill-health in 1996. He was the author of the A' Level Book on Theatre Studies (still in use). He himself was an amateur potter and he decided that the pot after his death should be given to a Museum. Simon died prematurely on 4 July 2005." See email of 17/10/2006 on acquisition RF 2005/321.

A date in the early 1960s has been suggested by Anita Besson, who thought this to be a fine example.

Lucie Rie made great use of sgraffito decoration, where lines are incised through a layer of slip or glaze. This fine early bowl provides a good example of her use of the technique, and also exemplies her subtle and refined approach to form.

C.21-2006