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.

 


Current Bid

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Lot 48
  • Linn Ware; Lobed bowl
  • Linn Ware; Lobed bowl
  • Linn Ware; Lobed bowl


Lot Estimate
ZAR 1 500 - 2 000
Current Bid
Starting at ZAR 1 500
Location
Cape Town
Delivery
Additional delivery charges apply
Shipping
Condition Report
May include additional detailed images
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About this Item

Olifantsfontein, South Africa 1943-1955
Lobed bowl

painted LINN WARE

green- and rust-glazed earthenware
6,5cm high, 16,5cm diameter

Notes

This particular piece has the characteristic green and russet colour palette, achieved using copper and iron oxide in a transparent glaze which, together with the signature innovation of double-glazing, resulted in rich skeins of colour and the luminosity for which these pieces became renowned.

View all Linn Ware lots for sale in this auction