BBC Antiques Roadshow expert issues warning over ‘work of art’ item that was ‘forgotten about’
The Antiques Roadshow team headed to Belfast’s Botanic Gardens for the latest episode of the BBC classic, with one find prompting a warning from one of the experts.
The episode, which aired on Sunday, saw Arts and Crafts Silver specialist Gordon Foster analysing a unique Victorian tea set he deemed “ahead of its time”.
“Well, you’ve brought along this teapot and milk jug today, people at home will be shouting at the screens, people who know what it is,” he told the owner of the silverware.
He continued: “It’s designed by Christopher Dresser, a pivotal designer at the end of the 19th century.
“And I heard someone saying, ‘it looks Art Deco,’ and it does look Art Deco from the 1920s or 30s, but it’s actually early 1880s. How did it come into your life? How did you find it?”
“Well, I found it one day when I went to sort out the children’s football boots in the garage,” the guest admitted.
“There was a bit of scrumpled up newspaper so I took that out, thinking it was going to be football boots, and I came across this.”
She went on to confess: “I’d forgotten about it completely.”
“So it was amongst other things that you’d inherited?” Foster probed, to which the guest responded: “Yes, it’s actually for my grandmother’s family.”
“The first thing to say is, it’s so ahead of its time – 1882, this is 40 or 50 years before Art Deco,” he explained.
“With this type of geometric, simple lines, you know, undecorated work.
“At this same time, 1880s Victorian era, tea services were much bigger, covered in floral decoration.
“So this was completely in contrast to all of that. Christopher Dresser went to Japan in 1876 as part of a trade delegation, and he was inspired by the Japanese shapes that he saw there.
“He saw early Japanese tea pots, cooking vessels, and this is what he drew his inspiration from.
“It was completely against the flow of fashion at the time, so it was really, truly avant garde, what he was doing.”
Taking a closer inspection, he continued: “Let’s have a closer look at the silver.
“The only decoration, really, is this bar handle, which is in ebony, and that’s also based on Japanese bamboo handles from the early period.
“And it’s not by accident that Dresser has done this spout and this angular handle here – it looks very decorative, but it’s also functional. It means that that will pour perfectly.”
“I love it, it’s so simple,” the guest shared. “So, when would he started getting the ability to make these sort of things?”
“Well, he trained at a very young age,” Foster explained. “He went to design school in London in his teens.
“He had an eye for design, and it culminates in something just like this. “It’s a work of art, really, rather than a teapot. Do you use it as a teapot?”
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“Well, should we use it?” the guest asked, to which Foster answered: “Yeah, why not?”
He added: “Well, we come to the valuation. If this were to turn up on the market, there would be many people interested in buying it.
“You are looking at comfortably, £3,000 to £5,000.”
The guest seemed speechless before managing: “Okay,” and laughing.
“It’s an outstanding example,” Foster admired.
“I had no idea… If I’d known that I wouldn’t have put it in with the football boots! I don’t know how they got in with the football boots.” the guest wondered.
“So what are you going to do now?” Foster inquired before warning the guest: “Look after it!”
“Take it to the bank, maybe!” she replied, laughing.