Post Medieval Glazed Ceramic Cow in Landscape Tile Set

Signed in the bottom right corner of the watercolour; framed and glazed with loops for suspension to the reverse. 1.65 kgs, 40.4 cm



Ex Albert Ward collection, Essex, UK.

J.W.S. Cox (1911-1982) was an American watercolourist renowned for developing the wet-on-wet painting technique. He grew up in New York, where he avidly sketched landscapes from an early age. The artist graduated from Pratt Institute NYC in 1933 and worked various jobs through the Great Depression. In 1936, he studied at the Acadamie Colarossie in Paris, and with Fauvist Othon Friesz for a short time, although later dismissed the Fauvist style as 'sloppy'. He went on to teach watercolour painting to students at Boston University, founding a studio on Bearskin Neck, Rockport, where he developed his 'sponge painting' and palette-knife techniques. He painted with an individualistic style, becoming a member of the Boston Watercolour Society. Cox shunned publicity as he believed it robbed him of painting time and turned down membership to the National Academy because he 'wouldn't play the game'. A Renaissance man, Cox spoke 12 languages with a goal to present himself 'and the soul of nature as truthfully and with as much inspiration, vitality and freshness as is possible, through the medium of watercolour'. He died of a heart attack in Florida in 1982.

Comprising a folded length of thin leather or vellum, with lines of Ge'ez text in black and red ink, coloured figural illuminations at the top depicting the winged Archangel Michael brandishing a sword, wearing a richly decorated lembd as a covering cloak. 32 grams, 35 cm



Stephen Keynes collection (1927-2017). Ex central London gallery.

Ethiopian phylacteries or parchment scrolls combined apotropaic prayers and images. These ‘magic scrolls’ utilise only a few designs that derive from Christian imagery, namely the holy rider, the sword-bearing angel Michael, and the cross. Here the text asks intervention and protection from Saint Michael, commander of the heavenly Host. Interestingly, the accoutrement of the Angel reflects that of the military Ethiopian elite in 19th century A.D.

Of lentoid form with one flat face, lug handles; chipped. 1.4 kg, 38 cm high



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.