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.
About this Item
painted LINN WARE, 1947, A GUNN
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 1950's but left behind a body of beautiful work that is highly collectable today.
Some of the later items were hand painted with colourful floral and African motifs or patterns. They were signed by the individual artists working at the pottery and are rarely seen. Despite the geographical isolation of the Studio, the artists were in no way creatively isolated and often worked with other artists in the wider community.
Provenance
The Floranelle Bird Collection
