My new collection (read obsession)

Vince purchased two coffee mugs at the Sunday Rooftop Market at the Rosebank Shopping Center before I joined him in Joburg. One is a beautiful turquoise and one is a mostly green art-glazed ceramic pottery. They are both nice and weighty, small-mouthed and big-bottomed (insert the obvious parallel to the perfect woman.) The dealer told him they were Linnware and explained that they are a local pottery made in South Africa during the 1940's and 1950's. The green cup has a date of 1943 scratched into the bottom which was inscribed before it was fired and glazed, but the turquoise one does not have a date. They both however have the Linnware trademark and kiln mark which is the depression each piece has where it comes into contact with the pottery holder as it is fired. This is how you know it is authentic Linnware.

Doing our own research on Linnware, we found out that in February 1943, Rowland Cullinan, second son of Sir Thomas Cullinan of the Cullinan Diamond Mining family, persuaded Sir Thomas to buy The Ceramic Studio and retain Joan Methley as its chief design potter, thus establishing the Linnware Ceramic Company. A number of The Ceramic Studio's artists remained to produce "artistic pottery" for Linnware; the majority of works being tableware.

we found a copy at Collectors Treasury!

Dr Melanie Hillebrand commented in The Woman of Olifantsfontein – South African Studio Ceramics (1991) that "what Linnware art pottery lacks in formal originality is more than compensated for in its consistently well-made tableware. Utilitarian vessels must be judged according to their functionality and Linnware dinner services and other sets are remarkably well-designed and fit for their purpose." Sadly it was a short-lived venture as another source gives 1955 as the date of closure of the Linnware studio and 1952 as Joan Methley's last year with Linnware.

Vince had unearthed a truly South African treasure and my new collectible! It is the perfect collectible too, uniquely South African, artistic yet utilitarian, vintage and rare. My next piece? I'm looking for a vase with a flower frog.