Press Release

Wolcottville, IN, USA, April 2, 2024 -- Anyone who grew up in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area will recognize the name Fortunoff, the high-end retailer of housewares, silverware, lighting fixtures and jewelry. Few are probably aware, however, that the matriarch of the Fortunoff family, Helene Fortunoff (1933-2021), was a passionate collector of fine antique ceramics.

Now, the entire collection that Helene assembled with her second husband Robert Grossman will come up for bid in an online-only auction slated for Tuesday, April 23rd, starting at 6 pm Eastern time. The sale, comprising 243 lots, will be conducted by Strawser Auction Group. Online bidding will be via LiveAuctioneers.com. Absentee and telephone bids will also be accepted.

A preview is available by appointment only on Tuesday, April 23rd, from 3-5 pm, in the Strawser Auction Group facility located at 200 North Main in Wolcottville, Ind. For an appointment, call 260-854-2859 or 260-336-2204; or, you can send an email to michael@strawserauctions.com.

The auction is officially titled The Fortunoff Collection of 19th Century Aesthetic Movement Porcelain, reflecting the main focus of the collection. Helene had a passion for Japanese design and collected Japanese lacquer pieces. The specific styles in the auction were mostly inspired by Japan, including important pieces designed by the Father of Modernism, Christopher Dresser.

“Although very large, the collection was very specific based on the highest quality, rarity and strength of design,” said Nick Boston, a dealer who first met Helene and Robert in January 2007 at the New York Ceramics Fair and went on to sell them many of the pieces in their collection. “Helene had an eye for quality. Her background in jewelry passed on to her taste in porcelain.”

Mr. Boston called the collection “without a doubt the finest collection of Aesthetic Movement porcelain in the world,” one that focused mainly on Minton and Royal Worcester's 'Japan' range, first introduced in 1862, and items from British manufacturers Copland, Royal Crown Derby and Coalport, “basically companies who were supplying Gilded Age US homes in the 19th century.”

Numerous pieces in the auction are expected to vie foe top lot honors. Chief among them is a pair of rare Worcester porcelain Renaissance Revival pate sur pate moon flasks, circa 1875, the white ground bodies decorated with a cobalt blue panel of Italianate masks, scrolls, caryatids and fantastic animal heads and each with a large panel of pate sur pate flowers (est. $5,000-$7,000).

A pair of hard-to-find Mintons Aesthetic Movement Moon vases, circa 1875 and 10 inches tall, the sang de bouef grounds decorated with a 22-carat gilded Japanese style central design of a crane amongst prunus, each with two small shaped handles, has an estimate of $2,000-$3,000.

A large, circa 1875 Royal Worcester Aesthetic Movement moon flask decorated with blue and white Japanese style fauna and a 22-carat gilded butterfly, all against a black ground with a 22-cart gilded scrolling dragon to the neck, should fetch $1,500-$2,500. The pair to this moon flask was donated by Ms. Fortunoff to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where it now resides.

A circa 1862 Minton exhibition tazza, probably designed by Leon Arnoux with puce ermine, designed for display at the London International Exhibition 1862, has a pre-sale estimate of $1,500-$2,000. The stem is modelled as three parian back-to-back storks supporting a shallow dish nicely painted in bright enamels against a 22-carat gilded ground in the style of Owen Jones.

To learn more about the Strawser Auction Group and the sale of the Helene Fortunoff porcelain collection slated for Tuesday, April 23rd, visit www.strawserauctions.com.

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