1950S

Hans Coper is recognised as one of the most revered and important potters of the 20th century. He was born and raised in a Jewish, middle-class family in Germany not far from the Czechoslovakian border. In 1939 he escaped Germany, and following a difficult time of arrest and internment in England and Canada, he returned to England and in 1946 was taken on by Lucie Rie as an apprentice in her studio in Albion Mews, London. At first he helped Rie to make press-moulded buttons but learnt quickly and soon started making domestic ware. At this time he designed his mark - an HC on it's side to resemble a pot on a wheel, and began making his own individual work when time allowed.

In his early pots, he used much sgraffito, usually with course incisions cutting across the surface. However by 1959 he had almost stopped using sgraffito completely. He focused almost entirely on using black or white and using subtle surface effects.

For a very similar vase in the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, go to http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=75037=14

For another work by Hans Coper in this sale see lot 30.