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.

 


Current Bid

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Lot 66
  • Linn Ware; Plate, painted with two figures
  • Linn Ware; Plate, painted with two figures


Lot Estimate
ZAR 6 000 - 8 000
Current Bid
Starting at ZAR 6 000
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
Plate, painted with two figures

painted LINN WARE, MV, '52

painted and glazed white earthenware
24cm diameter

Notes

Some of the later items were hand painted with colourful floral and African motifs or patterns, as with this one from 1952. They were signed by the individual artists working at the pottery and are rarely seen.

Provenance

The Floranelle Bird Collection

View all Linn Ware lots for sale in this auction


Lot 66