Hans Coper

London, Fischer Fine Art, Nine Potters, 18th September - 10th October 1986, cat. no.28, illustrated.

Structurally sound with no obvious cracks or breaks, the work appears in excellent overall condition. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Much like his most important supporter, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper came to Britain before the outbreak of the Second World War, arriving from Germany in London in 1939 (the same year as the young German evacuee Frank Auerbach). Coper found his way to ceramics through Lucie Rie, eighteen years his senior, and worked as her assistant and later partner from the late 1940s.  At her small studio in Albion Mews they worked together to create sleek and stylish domestic wares that were stamped with both of their monograms.  1958, the year around which the present work was made, formed an important period in Coper’s life – leaving Rie and her studio behind him and departing to the Digswell Arts Trust in Hertfordshire.  1958 was also the year that marked his first solo exhibition at Henry Rothchild’s Primavera gallery, and this new found independence marked a new path for his ceramic style, away from the largely domestic-inspired wares towards a new, abstract visual language, often highly sculptural in its tones, in much the same way (albeit unrelated style) to the emergence of James Tower’s semi-sculptural ceramics of the late 1950s and early 60s. The present work marks an important stage in this transition from the earlier wares where Coper focused on the decoration, to the later, more sculptural forms.  Here it is the very body of the form that becomes its decoration, with a rubbed, manganese body and gently incised horizontal lines.