The Sir Bruno Welby Collection of Porcelain

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Sir Richard Bruno Gregory Welby, 7th Baronet

Sir Bruno has been a familiar figure in the ceramic world for longer than most of us can remember; often seen at events organised by the English Ceramic Circle and the French Porcelain Society and at fairs and exhibitions. His interest in ceramics was stimulated when the great Sotheby’s specialist T.H. (Tim) Clarke visited his father at Denton Manor and was impressed by their dinner service. Tim Clarke sold much of their inherited English porcelain in 1955 and maintained a friendship.

With a London house in Kensington, Sir Bruno was a frequent visitor to the dealers around Kensington Church Street. Mrs Hoff, with her German background and frequent holidays in Venice, shared her knowledge and love of Continental porcelain. Liane Richards of Mercury Antiques supplied much English porcelain; some will remember her small hanging cabinet with ranks of fine coffee cans such as the Derby examples with wishbone handles in this sale. The tour continued via Klaber and Klaber and many hours spent with Simon Spero. More recently he loaned many pieces to the series of important exhibitions on James Giles and O’Neale organised by Stephen Hanscombe at Stockspring Antiques.

Bernard Watney encouraged visits to Portobello Road which resulted in a long friendship, and amicable rivalry. Bernard was always first at the market, yet Bruno took delight in discoveries that Bernard had missed or had emerged after his thorough weekly sweep.

Sir Bruno’s first purchase was a Longton Hall plate from the auctioneers Phillips. An interest in the factory was inspired by a connection with a descendant of Sir John Edensor Heathcote, whose stables were built over the site of the Longton Hall factory which Bernard Watney had recently excavated.

Visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum and a long association with John and Felicity Mallet nurtured a rich exchange of ideas on shared interests.

On an overnight visit to Denton Manor a selection of perhaps forty pieces would be displayed in a walnut cabinet in one’s bedroom, carefully selected to intrigue and delight the guest. It was the tip of the rich and varied iceberg that you see in this catalogue. I for one had no idea of the scale of the rest of the collection until recently.

The collection consists mostly of small pieces, individual cups and saucers, for Sir Bruno it was all about the artists and their painting, some known by name, many anonymous. By assembling so many variants Sir Bruno was able to trace the characteristics of each hand in differing genres and periods. It is only with such a collection that one can differentiate between the hands of the London flower painters on Chinese porcelain, for instance. It allowed for perceptive observations such as the fact that when Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale painted a polychrome scene, the surrounding flower painting would be by one of the best Chelsea factory hands, whilst when he executed a subject in his favoured puce monochrome the flowers are quite different and in his own hand. I recall Sir Bruno pointing this out decades ago and it has stood the test of time.

The collection is a history in miniature of the art of ceramic decoration from the golden age of European porcelain. England is covered in depth with examples of the most important hands of Chelsea, Longton Hall and the Giles workshop and other factories. Italy includes some exceptional rarities from the factories of the Veneto and Naples. France, early Dutch porcelain, Zurich and, of course, Meissen and the other German decorators of the great factories as well as the hausmaler are full of challenges and surprises.

Sir Bruno kept meticulous notes of attributions in his albums which Clare Durham has carefully incorporated into these entries, I am sure that this will remain an important reference for years to come.

Errol Manners