Ella Jerman-Riddell
Sale Coordinator
Lady Glenconner: My Life in Objects
Lot 5
An assembled Holkham Pottery white and gilt decorated tea and breakfast serviceThird quarter 20th century
19 November 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£200 - £300
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Madeleine Cater
Associate Specialist
Charlie Thomas
Group Head, Private Collections, Furniture & Works of Art, U.K
An assembled Holkham Pottery white and gilt decorated tea and breakfast service
Third quarter 20th century
Comprising nine cups and saucers; a large and a small teapot; two sugar bowls (one lacking cover); two milk jugs; a hot water jug (lacking cover); seven small side plates; five crested egg cups; a salt shaker and a pepper shaker, the large teapot: 25cm wide, 14.5cm deep, 14.5cm high (9 1/2in wide, 5 1/2in deep, 5 1/2in high) (39)
Comprising nine cups and saucers; a large and a small teapot; two sugar bowls (one lacking cover); two milk jugs; a hot water jug (lacking cover); seven small side plates; five crested egg cups; a salt shaker and a pepper shaker, the large teapot: 25cm wide, 14.5cm deep, 14.5cm high (9 1/2in wide, 5 1/2in deep, 5 1/2in high) (39)
Footnotes
Holkham pottery was established at Holkham Hall in 1951 by Lady Elizabeth Leicester. She had been inspired by a German prisoner who had created his own kiln whilst a prisoner of war at the Estate's brickyard. Lady Elizabeth was increasingly aware of the financial pressures associated with running such a large estate and so she was determined to make the business an economic success. In time, she employed over 100 people and it became the largest light industry in North Norfolk.
They converted the 19th century laundry and bowling alley into a pottery studio which created an additional attraction to Holkham and provided local jobs, including for both Lady Glenconner and her sister Lady Carey. While Lady Carey helped paint and design the pieces, Lady Glenconner 'wasn't at all artistic' and knew that she 'would be much better suited' to the selling side of the business.
In her autobiography, Lady Glenconner recounts stories of setting off in her mother's Mini Minor to travel the length of England, often staying in travelling-salesmen hotels which 'smelt of cabbage'. Of this time, she writes: 'I really enjoyed it – the independence, the responsibility, the satisfaction of making a deal and, most of all, the feeling of being taken seriously for the first time in my life.'
By 1952 Lady Glenconner was travelling through America selling Holkham pottery, and it was while in New York in February 1953 that she received a telegram from her mother reading: 'ANNE YOU MUST COME HOME STOP YOU'VE BEEN ASKED TO BE A MAID OF HONOUR AT THE QUEEN'S CORONATION STOP'. This transatlantic telegram saw Lady Glenconner 'thrust into the limelight' and saw to change the course of her life.
Literature
Anne Glenconner, Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown, Hodder & Staughton, London, 2019, pp.37-58.