Linn Ware: Celebrating the Ceramics of Olifantsfontein

Timed Online Auction, 2 - 13 May 2025

Session One
About the Session

This 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.

 


Sold for

ZAR 7 035
Lot 11
  • Linn Ware; Pedestal bowl with inverted rim
  • Linn Ware; Pedestal bowl with inverted rim


Lot Estimate
ZAR 3 500 - 4 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 7 035
Location
Cape Town
Delivery
Additional delivery charges apply
Shipping
Condition Report
May include additional detailed images

About this Item

Olifantsfontein, South Africa 1943-1955
Pedestal bowl with inverted rim

stamped L over W in circle

green-glazed earthenware
11cm high, 21cm diameter

Notes

Several pieces such as this one, make use of the pedestal, which required a careful balance of form, structure and proportion. The Linn Ware studio used two different studio impressed marks, an L above a W within a circle was one of them.

View all Linn Ware lots for sale in this auction