Linn Ware: Celebrating the Ceramics of Olifantsfontein
Timed Online Auction, 2 - 13 May 2025
Session One
About the SessionThis sale features a broad selection of Linn Ware that celebrates South Africa’s rich ceramic traditions highlighting a key moment in the country’s artistic development — during a period when industrialisation and mass production were rapidly transforming the design landscape. The Ceramic Studio, renamed Linn Ware in 1943, was founded on Sir Thomas Cullinan’s farm Olifantsfontein, outside Johannesburg which had rich deposits of clay and lime. It was staffed mostly by women students from the Durban School of Art, several of whom studied further at the Royal College of Art, London. The Studio closed in the late 1950’s but left behind a beautiful body of work that is highly collectable today. Discover more about Linn Ware's fascinating history here.
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Notes
The Ceramic Studio, renamed Linn Ware in 1943, was founded on Sir Thomas Cullinan's farm Olifantsfontein, outside Johannesburg which had rich deposits of clay and lime. It was staffed mostly by women students from the Durban School of Art, several of whom studied further at the Royal College of Art, London.
Larger items such as these were thrown by hand by Frank Agliotti, a skilled Italian potter who worked at the Ceramic Studio from 1926 to 1931. The iconic emerald green, achieved using copper oxide in a transparent glaze, together with the signature innovation of double glazing, resulted in rich depth-enhancing finishes.
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