PAULA'S COLLECTOR'S PICK

There are so many pieces I like in this collection, I'll try to share them by writing a small comment on some that I like best.

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One of my first acquisitions, this Art Nouveau mostly green vase was probably painted by a descendant of Abraham Sparks, an Irish immigrant who was born in 1852 in Coolook Beg (Wexford), immigrated to Canada as a one year old and died in Ottawa in 1933. Ada Sparks, one of his 7 children, was born in Ottawa in 1882 and died there in 1953. She married William H. Smyth in 1911 and had 6 children. Her signature on the bottom of the vase is dated 1920.

A recent acquisition is this pitcher and four demitasse cups and saucers set. Hand painted with a poppy motif by a lady who initialized her work "M H"; it was characterized by the vendor as ''Granny art''! The set was acquired several years ago at an estate sale in Winnipeg (Manitoba), from a war widow who was downsizing. Probably she had inherited the set because the blank for the pitcher is a Limoges La Seynie P & P, a mark dated between 1903 and 1917 and for the cups and saucers a MZ Austria mark from the same period.

Acquired in Ontario, this cider or lemonade set was painted on a Bernardaud & Co. Limoges blank, signed and dated M.E. Cox 1924 and decorated with a red gooseberry vine. Cider sets were a popular household item in the first half of the 20th century.

An exquisite reticulated wisteria vase, acquired in Montreal, dates from the 1920s, is painted on a Bernardaud & Co. Limoges blank, richly gilded and inscribed on the bottom ''S.M.A. Couvent des SS NN de Jésus et de Marie Valleyfield'' meaning that it was painted by the teaching nuns of that Quebec Convent.

This chocolate set is the work of Sister Margaret McKeoan from the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in Kingston (ON), hand painted on a Nippon blank. Sister Margaret was born in 1850 in Erinsville and probably died in 1915 while serving in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston.

I was lucky to acquire part of a collection attributed to Winifred Rice, a lady from Port Hope, Ontario, who, during the Edwardian era, painted many gorgeous sets of plates, vases, pitchers, trays, etc. Aunt Winnie, as she was remembered, probably began her hobby as a porcelain painter after taking classes as a watercolourist, but she left mainly pieces of painted porcelain as her lasting heritage. The vase, 7 inches high, is a MZ Austria blank, signed and dated on bottom ''RICE 1911''. The cups, marked Q.&E.A. Royal Austria are signed on bottom ''W'' and are matched with a tankard marked T&V Limoges France (1892-1907), without signature or date. This drinking set is placed on an unmarked and unsigned hand painted tray originating from the United States.

I won this bowl painted by Sol Labos Brien at a silent auction organized during the 2012 PAC (Porcelain Artists of Canada) Convention in Ottawa, Ontario. Sol Labos Brien , a well known artist painter on porcelain from Montreal, Quebec, imports all of her blanks from France and uses techniques of the XVIIIth century with colour pigments and oils, firing them at very high temperatures. Sol produces unique paintings, masterfully rendered, very often using precious powdered gold and raised paste to enhance the details. It takes her several hours and numerous firings to accomplish one single piece. For more information see Sol Labos Brien 's website: http://www.atelierdebercy.com/index2.php

The tray, on a Royal Tillowitz blank, probably dates from 1923 and the three piece muffin dish, painted on an "Old Ivory" blank marked Ridgway, is dated "Oct. 1928". They are both signed "G. Julien" and are examples of an astonishing china painter from Ottawa, Ontario. Gratia Julien, a china painter, painter and teacher was very active in the National Capital Region from the 1930s, when she exposed her works beside such well known painters as Henri Masson at the 4th Annual Exhibition of the Ottawa Arts Association, to the 50s and beyond, when she was very active as a teacher of painting as well as china painting.

This Art Nouveau vase was acquired from a seller from Victoria, B.C. On a blank, probably from Limoges, dated c. 1900, the painter A.M. Lumming drew four panels with idealized waterfall landscapes. The colours are rich and the gilding is extensive.

Jane Woods created a luncheon set consisting of tea pot and stand, sugar and creamer, six side and luncheon plates on Limoges blanks painted in 1929 in Vancouver, B.C. and six cups and saucers on Bavaria blanks painted in 1930 maybe in the Ottawa, ON area where the set was recently acquired. It is interesting that, a few years back, I acquired a plate also in Ottawa, painted by a E.E. Woods in January 1918 on a Limoges blank, in an Egyptian style characteristic for the period. Is there any link between these items?

Marthe Sirois, a well known ceramicist from Gatineau, Quebec, is the creator of this Olive Dish Set. In the 50’s, the artist learned to paint on porcelain from a nun teacher who was at the Soeurs de Jésus-Marie Convent in Lauzon, Québec. Later on, she produced her own porcelain pieces, which she prepares in accordance with her own recipe, moulds, and glazes, and decorates in a variety of motifs and styles.

These two plates and the platter were painted by Inez Johnson, a china painter and glazer who worked in the 1940s and ‘50s in the Alberta ceramics industry. She was very skilled and her floral paintings for home use were not done on porcelain blanks which must have been expensive, but on earthenware, probably available from the local manufacturers.

In 1916, during her Jamaica stay, Alice Mary Hagen (née Egan), the great Canadian ceramicist, organized a pottery studio where she also taught china painting. This 10 cm high vase has an interesting flask form and is decorated with a lovely floral pattern. Alice Mary Hagen frequently depicted native Canadian wildflowers in her china painting. The vase is inscribed on the bottom: ALICE M. HAGEN/ JAMAICA BVV, I/ ENGLISH CLAY/ STUDIO POTTERY. In 1916 Alice M. Hagen and her pupils had a stand at the Red Cross Sale, in Kingston, Jamaica with hand painted wares and also pottery studio pieces, as attested by a photograph inscribed in the lower margin: ''Constant Spring Hotel, Jamaica, Red Cross Benefit, 1916, AM and pupils'' (photo in Mahone Bay Settlers Museum).