Enfilade

Garniture of Three Vases (vases des âges), Sèvres, 1781
(Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.DE.718).

◊   ◊   ◊   ◊   ◊

From the FPS:

The Art of the Dealer: Selling Antique Ceramics, 1850 to 2000
Online, 12–13 June 2021

The French Porcelain Society is delighted to announce a two-day webinar on selling antique ceramics in the pre-digital age from 1850 to 2000.

The first day will focus on the dealer in the long nineteenth century, emerging from his chrysalis as a seller of ‘curiosities’ and ‘Old Sèvres porcelain’ to modern scholar-dealer, trading on an international stage, selling to museums through antiques fairs, themed exhibitions, lectures, specialist monographs, and catalogues devoted to ceramics. Papers will consider the Parisian dealer Beurdeley, the furnishing of J. Pierpont Morgan’s London home and the dealers who supplied him, and the rising market for oriental ceramics popularised by Edgar Gorer.

On day two, speakers will consider the legacy and change that characterised porcelain dealing in the twentieth century with papers on Marjorie Merriweather Post and French & Company in the United States, the activities of Hanns Weinberg in the 1950s for the Antique Porcelain Company, and finally Robert Williams at Winifred Williams Antiques. Each day will conclude with a panel discussion.

Zoom link for both days on our website soon. The full programme, with abstracts, is available here. Registration in advance is required. This symposium is free and open to all, but donations (here) are appreciated.

The programme is made possible with the generous support of Richard Baron Cohen.

All times are BST/UK

S A T U R D A Y ,  1 2  J U N E  2 0 2 1

17.00  Session 1
• Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth (Visiting Research Fellow, History of Art and Museum Studies, University of Leeds and Curator, 17th- and 18th-Century Ceramics and Glass, V&A Museum), Marks, Monographs, and Mediators: The Long Nineteenth Century
• Camille Mestdagh (Associate Researcher, LARHRA), The Importance of Porcelain in the Business of a Parisian Curiosity Dealer: The Beurdeley Dynasty, a Case Study

17.50  Break

17.55  Session 2
• Linda H. Roth (Director of Special Projects/Curatorial and Charles C. and Eleanor Lamont Cunningham Curator of European Decorative Arts, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut), Mr. Morgan’s London House
• Nick Pearce (Richmond Chair of Fine Art, School of Culture & Creative Arts, University of Glasgow), ‘Sheer Cleverness and Courage’: Edgar Gorer (1872–1915) and the Rise of the Specialist Dealer in Chinese Art

19.00  Panel discussion and Q&A

S U N D A Y ,  1 3  J U N E  2 0 2 1

17.00  Session 3
• Diana Davis (Independent researcher), The Twentieth Century: Legacy and Change
• Rebecca Tilles (Associate Curator of 18th-Century French and Western European Fine and Decorative Arts, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens) Marjorie Merriweather Post and the Role and Influence of French & Company

17.50  Break

17.55  Session 4
• John Whitehead, FSA (Antique dealer and author), The Antique Porcelain Company: Porcelain Dealing in the Post-war Period
• Errol Manners, FSA (Antique dealer and author), Robert Williams of Winifred Williams Antiques

19.00  Panel discussion and Q&A