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.
About this Item
unsigned
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. The Studio closed in the late 1950s but left behind a body of beautiful work that is highly collectable today.
Each piece was handmade and individually double-glazed, giving the work its distinctive and characteristic luminosity for which they became renowned. This pair have a fine balance of form and the turquoise and russet colour palette, which has become a trademark of the Linn Ware studio.
View all Linn Ware/Ceramic Studio lots for sale in this auction