San Francisco Ceramic Circle
January 10th, 2002 Meeting
"The Emperor's New Clothes: Imperial Yellow
Atop the Middle Class Mantle"
Jody Wilkie
Vice President, International Specialist, Head of
European Ceramics and Glass, Christie's
International
The January meeting of the San Francisco Ceramic Circle will
be held on Thursday, 10th January in the Florence Gould Theater
at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
Entrance is from the West terrace from 7.30pm. The lecture will
start at 8.00pm.
About the Lecture: An investigation of late 18th/early 19th
century British 'yellow-glazed earthenware' and its porcelain
forebears - the imperial yellow porcelains of China and their
European imitations as developed in Germany, France and England
in the mid-18th century. Jody said: "I am beingvery politically
correct here by saying British, because yellow-glazed pottery
of this type was made in Scotland and Wales as well as in England.
Many types of decoration were used, in particular transfer printing
in a variety of colors, lustre in silver, copper and pink, enamels-
primarily strong shades of red, green, blue and black. As one
can imagine, sometimes the decoration was very successful, other
times less so given the strong shades of yellow on which the decoration
was applied."
About the Speaker: Jody Wilkie possesses over 20 years of
experience in the field. In her current position, Ms. Wilkie is
responsible for overseeing worldwide sales of English and Continental
porcelain, pottery and glass and supervises sales of Chinese export
porcelain held annually in New York. Ms. Wilkie joined the auction
firm in 1978 as a senior specialist in Christie's Sculpture and
Works of Art Department, concentrating on the appraisal and sales
of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and American sculpture, ceramics
and other works of art until 1993. At that time, she was appointed
Head of Ceramics and Glass and was recently promoted to International
Specialist Head (fall 2001).
Knowledgeable in a broad range of art, Ms. Wilkie's personal
interest lies in Italian Renaissance Maiolica, French porcelain
of the 18th and early 19th century, and American sculpture from
the early 1900's through to the 1930's. Most recently, she was
responsible for the highly successful single-owner sale of Vincennes
and Sevres Porcelain from a New England Collection held in May
1999, one of the inaugural auctions celebrating Christie's move
to the expanded premises at Rockefeller Plaza. In addition to
her primary responsibilities, Ms. Wilkie has been an appraiser
on The Antiques Roadshow since the inception of the program in
1996.
A native New Yorker, Ms. Wilkie attended the Chapin School,
received her B.A. in Art History from Vassar College, and attended
Sotheby's Works of Art Course in London.
Mini exhibit: Please bring examples of Yellow Wares. Set up
time from
7:30pm.
Next meeting: 7th February, 2002. Early Worcester 1751 - 1755
by Robyn Robb, Specialist Dealer in 18th Century English Porcelain,
London, England.
