Product Description
Rose Cabat/American Studio Ceramics Rare “Feelie” Porcelain Vessel, c. 1980-85
ROSE CABAT (1914-2015) USA
Rare and important large scale “Feelie” c. 1980-85
Thin walled porcelain vessel with a silky satiny matte drip glaze
Signed: incised CABAT on bottom
For more information on Rose Cabat see: Rose Erni Cabat Retrospective 1936-1986 (Tuscon, AZ: Tuscon Museum of Art, 1986)
H: 3 5/8″
Price: $1,650
Rose Cabat was an American studio ceramicist living in Tucson. Considered one of the most important ceramic artists of the Mid-century Modernist movement, Cabat is best known for her innovative glazes on small porcelain pots called “feelies” which she developed in the 1960s. Her organic forms often resemble the shape of onions and figs, and her glazes range from organic to jewel tones. Cabat was born in 1914 in the Bronx, New York, began to work in ceramics in the late 1930′s, and moved to Arizona in 1942, where she continued to make innovative ceramics.
Feelies:
Feelies are described as onion, fig, cucumber, and saucer-shaped ceramic vases terminating in an upward closed neck. Bruce Block, an avid collector, has described them as sensual and tactile with a very specific unforgettable texture, spiritual seeming to contain a type of energy. Rose Cabat had developed a silky satiny glaze, and it wasn’t until around 1960 that she had hit upon the first of the appropriate form, svelte and sleek to match the glaze. She exclaimed, “Now this one’s a feelie.”, coining the term. Upon developing the new glazes, she felt that she needed new forms to apply the glazes to, different from what she made before, “craft fair” style coiled heads and wind bells. She is quoted as saying, “The old things did not look good … I wanted simpler shapes that went with the glazes.”They are typically globular in shape, tightening down to a minuscule neck glazed to a satin surface. The tactile experience is most important. The nature of the neck is such that it is closed, so narrow that it cannot hold anything. Cabat would reply when asked why the necks of her feelies are so narrow, “A vase can hold weeds or flowers, but can’t it just be a spot of beauty?”
Rose Cabat/American Studio Ceramics Rare “Feelie” Porcelain Vessel, c. 1980-85
Leonard Wyburd UK
Liberty & Company London
Four-legged Thebes stool circa 1890-95.
Mahogany, woven wicker seat, turned details.
Comparable Liberty stools illustrated: Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994), pp. 465-66.
H: 15 3/4″ x D: 15″ x W: 15″
One of the driving influences of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century was an informed interest in authentic ancient designs inspired by recent archaeological discoveries. Both the three- and four-legged Thebes stool were inspired by actual furniture and wall paintings unearthed from royal tombs in the ancient Egyptian city for which they are named. Leonard Wyburd, who was one of the principal designers for Liberty, patented his designs for the Thebes stools in 1884. Liberty & Co. continued to make the popular stools into the early 1900’s.
JAN VAN DER VAART (1931-2000) The Netherlands
I-beam vase 1991
Matte bronze glazed stoneware
Signed: 91 VD VAART (incised)
For more information on Van der Vaart and his work see: Jan van der Vaart, Ceramics, Marjan Unger, et al. (The Netherlands: Stichting Harten Fonds, 1991); Jan van der Vaart Multipels 1967-1997, Allaard Hidding (Leeuwarden: Keramiekmuseum Het Princessehof, 1997), illus. 88, p. 88.
H: 9 1/2” x W: 10 1/8” x D: 5 1/2”
Price: $8,000
Jan van der Vaart, born in 1931, is one of the Netherlands’ best known potters. He was not only a trend-setting artist and industrial designer, he also taught an entire generation of Dutch ceramicists while teaching at the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (1968-1990). His work is in the collection of many Dutch museums, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.