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 19 933
Lot 26
  • Linn Ware/Ceramic Studio; Ovoid-shaped vase with moulded rim
  • Linn Ware/Ceramic Studio; Ovoid-shaped vase with moulded rim
  • Linn Ware/Ceramic Studio; Ovoid-shaped vase with moulded rim


Lot Estimate
ZAR 12 000 - 15 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 19 933
Delivery
Additional delivery charges apply
Shipping
Condition Report
May include additional detailed images

About this Item

Olifantsfontein, South Africa 1925 - 1955
Ovoid-shaped vase with moulded rim

impressed dish stamp and incised

green-glazed earthenware
36cm high, 25cm diameter

Notes

This particular piece has the iconic green and turquoise colour palette, achieved using copper oxide in a transparent glaze which, together with the signature innovation of double-glazing, resulted in rich depth-enhancing finishes and the luminosity for which these pieces became renowned. The Linn Ware studio used two different impressed marks, one mark superficially resembles an African hut but actually represents a profile view of a dish with a lid.

View all Linn Ware/Ceramic Studio lots for sale in this auction