A very extensive Dodie Thayer pottery lettuce ware service, 20th Century

Auction Closed

June 17, 06:12 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

comprising:

36 large dinner plates, 11 3/8 in., 29 cm diam.;

35 plates, 9 3/4 in., 24.8 cm diam.;

35 soup bowls, 5 3/8 in., 13.6 cm diam.;

32 kidney-shaped dishes, 7 5/8 in., 19.3 cm long;

21 canapé plates, 4 1/8 in., 10.3 cm diam.;

41 small butter pads;

Larger table wares:

2 circular serving bowls, 9 5/8 in., 24.4 cm diam.;

2 square serving bowls, 8 1/2 in., 21.5 cm wide;

2 circular deep serving dishes;

2 square deep serving dishes;

2 large oval platters, 20 3/4 in., 52.7 cm wide;

2 large circular platters, 16 1/2 in, 42 cm diam.;

3 circular tureen stands in two sizes;

Smaller table wares:

a crudité dish, 12 3/4 in., 32.4 cm long;

2 leaf-shaped serving dishes, 9 in., 22.8 cm long;

3 triple hors d'oeuvres bowls;

2 double hors d'oeuvres bowls;

3 sauce pots or bowls;

a large footed candlestick;

2 lettuce head-form candlesticks;

37 small candlesticks;

Tea wares:

2 teapots and covers;

2 two-handled sugar bowls;

2 small cream jugs;

3 cups, covers, and saucers;

6 small spoons;

together with 11 additional saucers in two sizes, various Dodie Thayer incised and painted marks. 300 pieces.

Lady Blue Eyes: Property of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, Sotheby's, New York, 6 December, 2018, lot 51 (part);

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Doris DuBois Thayer Hawthorn—known as Dodie—began in the early 1960s, hand-forming lettuce-leaf ceramics at a modest home workshop. “I wanted to do something creative and I liked working with my hands, so I took up ceramics,” she recalled. Quoted in Marian King, The Greening of Tableware, Palm Beach Daily News.

Her vivid, unmistakable green glaze soon became a social register in itself, gracing the tables of America’s most storied tastemakers. Collectors included the Duchess of Windsor; C.Z. Guest (a group later sold by her daughter, Cornelia Guest, Sotheby’s New York, Oct 17, 2015, lots 500–508, $112,875); Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Sotheby’s New York, Apr 23–26, 1996); and Mary Sayles Booker Braga (Sotheby’s New York, Oct 19–20, 2015, lots 72, 313, 589–590, $76,875). The present service formed part of the collection of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, until it was acquired by the present owner at Sotheby's in 2018.

Most recently, a substantial selection featured in The Estate of Mario Buatta: Prince of Interiors (Sotheby’s New York, 23–24 January 2020, lot 202), while a 141-piece service from the private collection of a lady achieved $137,500 at Sotheby’s New York on 12 August 2020, underscoring the enduring appeal for Dodie Thayer’s iconic lettuce ware.