1921 Arthur Conant Rookwood Porcelain Vase
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APPRAISER:
So how did you get this?
GUEST:
Ah… from my dad's estate.
APPRAISER:
This is a really sweet vase by the firm of Rookwood. Have you heard of Rookwood?
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
Rookwood was a big pottery in Cincinnati, and they started in 1880, and went on for a very long time, closing many times during the 20th century off and on. Up until pretty much today. And they went through many different lines and had first-rate decorators. And among the very best was the one who did this. His name was Arthur Conant. And Arthur Conant joined Rookwood in I believe 1915, and he was there for about 25 years. So I will show you the bottom here and the marks, which are the Rookwood Pottery mark up here.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The XXI for 1921, the number below that, which is the number of that shape, and then the C in a box, for the artist, Arthur Conant. So he really liked Japanese woodblock prints. So you have this prunus tree…
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
…and you've got this lovely blue bird. The waves are so wonderful. The waves that are crashing, that is so sweet. But… what I find pretty interesting on this is there's a whole lot of that very stark background. And it has a texture to it, right?
GUEST:
Right, when you put it under your light was the first time I really noticed that and fell in love with the vase again.
APPRAISER:
It's not flat, there's something happening here. And so I was just showing that to my colleague at the Asian table there, and I was wondering why would they do a… because he was very good. He was a painter, he was a sculptor, he knew what he was doing. So this was done probably on purpose. And what my friend said was this may very well be because he knew that doing woodblock prints you've got these variations of texture.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So that might be why it's there. So you've got a really pretty porcelain vase. At auction, I would put an estimate on this of $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my golly, we didn't believe that. That is awesome, thank you. Oh, my heavens. (chuckles) I was the only one that wanted it. I fell in love with the bird, I can't believe this. Oh!
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